KR100506818B1 - Method for setting-up moving point of substrate and inspection method of substrate using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method for setting a moving position of a semiconductor substrate and a method for inspecting a semiconductor substrate. The chip arrangement information formed on the substrate is input to the equipment, and the center point of the substrate stage provided in the equipment having the measuring unit coincides with the center point of the chip arrangement recognized by the chip arrangement information. A first point is designated from the arrangement information of the chip, and a first distance between the first point and the center point is calculated for the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively, based on the center point. The calculated first distance in the x- and y-axis directions is set as a movement distance for moving the substrate to the first point. Measure by moving to the set position. In this way, by setting the position to move before the semiconductor substrate is inserted into the inspection equipment, it is possible to shorten the process time by reducing the time consumed in steps such as alignment, thereby reducing the overall cost.

Description

METHOD FOR SETTING-UP MOVING POINT OF SUBSTRATE AND INSPECTION METHOD OF SUBSTRATE USING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a method for setting a moving position of a semiconductor substrate and a method for inspecting a semiconductor substrate, and more particularly, to a method for setting a moving position of a semiconductor substrate having a repetitive arrangement and a method for inspecting a semiconductor substrate.

In order to manufacture a highly integrated semiconductor device, a process of forming a film and forming the film into a pattern having a predetermined shape by a semiconductor process is repeatedly performed. In this way, after the pattern is formed, the state of the pattern and whether or not the defect is inspected by the inspection equipment.

As inspection equipment used during the semiconductor process, expensive equipment having a high resolution such as a scanning electron microscope (hereinafter, referred to as SEM) is mainly used. These instruments have high accuracy, but they take long time to prepare and are difficult to handle and require a lot of time to measure. In order to make a measurement using the equipment, first, information about a semiconductor wafer to be measured must be input. For example, information about an arrangement of chips repeatedly formed on a semiconductor wafer and information on points to be measured are input.

In order to introduce the semiconductor wafer into the inspection equipment and measure it, the wafer must first be aligned. In other words, it is to check whether the wafer is properly introduced into the inspection equipment. However, the align must be introduced while the wafer is directly introduced into the inspection equipment and visually inspected by the operator. That is, fine and repetitive work is executed to align and set-up the parameters for the alignment state to a fixed value for the measuring equipment.

However, not only a single type of semiconductor device is manufactured in the semiconductor mass production equipment line, but also many facilities are operated. Therefore, each time the model of the semiconductor device is replaced, it is necessary to newly set information on the alignment of the substrate in the plurality of semiconductor devices. In other words, the process variables must be entered again. Thus, the same operation is performed repeatedly.

In this way, after aligning the substrate introduced into the inspection equipment, a substantial measurement of the chip formed on the substrate is performed. However, in order to proceed with the actual measurement, the operator must repeatedly perform fine work in order to find a position to be measured as in the alignment.

As semiconductor devices become highly integrated, design rules of semiconductor devices are reduced, and the period of generation change of semiconductor devices manufactured to new design rules is getting shorter. Therefore, every time the generation of the semiconductor device is replaced, the same repetitive operation must be performed on the plurality of devices for each of a plurality of models. Since finding the alignment and the measuring position is performed by the operator's eyes, the wafer on which the actual chip is formed should be used. Therefore, even after the chip is completed on the wafer through the semiconductor process, the actual measurement is performed only after consuming a long time.

Based on the results examined by the measuring equipment, process parameters of the semiconductor process must be constantly improved. Therefore, when the inspection time by the inspection equipment is delayed, the semiconductor processing time to be subsequently performed is also delayed. Such work is costly in terms of manpower, time and other consumable materials, requiring additional costs apart from actual production. That is, only the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device is increased.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a method for setting a moving position of a semiconductor substrate, which can be executed before the semiconductor substrate is loaded.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a method for inspecting a semiconductor substrate with a reduced process time.

In one embodiment, a method of setting a moving position of a semiconductor substrate to achieve the first purpose includes inputting chip arrangement information formed on a substrate into a device, and identifying the center point of the substrate stage included in the device having a measuring unit and the chip arrangement information. Matching a center point of the arranged chip arrangement, designating a first point from the arrangement information of the chip, and a first distance between the first point and the center point with respect to the x and y axis directions based on the center point. Calculating each, setting the calculated first distances in the x- and y-axis directions as the movement distances for moving the substrate to the first point, and matching the center point of the substrate with the center point of the substrate stage. Mounting the substrate to the substrate stage.

In the method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate for achieving the second object, the method includes mounting the substrate so that the center point of the substrate stage and the center point of the substrate coincide with the substrate stage provided in the equipment having the measuring unit, and the first point on the substrate. Designating the first point and the measuring unit by moving in the x-axis and y-axis directions by a first distance between the first point and the center point of the substrate stage with respect to the center point of the substrate stage. Correcting the alignment, designating a second point based on the first point, x-axis representing a second distance between the first point and the second point based on the first point; calculating each of the y-axis directions and moving the second distance to measure the set second point.

In this way, by setting the position to move before the semiconductor substrate is put into the inspection equipment, it is possible to shorten the process time by reducing the time spent in setting up the equipment parameters (set up) to align the semiconductor substrate can reduce the overall cost .

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, this invention is demonstrated in detail.

The method for setting a movement position of a semiconductor substrate may include inputting chip arrangement information formed on a substrate into a device, and matching a center point of a substrate stage included in the device having a measuring unit with a center point of the chip arrangement recognized by the chip arrangement information. Specifying a first point from the arrangement information of the chip, calculating a first distance between the first point and the center point based on the center point in the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively; and setting a first distance in the x- and y-axis directions as a movement distance for moving the substrate to the first point.

In this case, the substrate is mounted on the substrate stage so that the center point of the substrate and the center point of the substrate stage coincide with each other.

In addition, a second point is designated from the arrangement information of the chip, and a second distance between the second point and the first point is calculated with respect to the x-axis and y-axis directions based on the first point, respectively. The position of the second point is set to a position to be moved by the second distance.

The above steps are accomplished by remotely transmitting data at a time to a number of devices in the semiconductor production line.

The method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate in which a movement position is set as described above includes mounting the substrate to match a center point of the substrate stage and a center point of the substrate to a substrate stage provided in a device having a measuring unit, and a first point on the substrate. Designating the first point and the measuring unit by moving in the x-axis and y-axis directions by a first distance between the first point and the center point of the substrate stage with respect to the center point of the substrate stage. Correcting the alignment, designating a second point based on the first point, x-axis representing a second distance between the first point and the second point based on the first point; calculating each of the y-axis directions and moving the second distance to measure the set second point.

In this case, the alignment is performed by moving the measuring unit or the substrate stage or simultaneously moving the measuring unit and the substrate stage.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, to determine the center point of the substrate stage in the semiconductor substrate inspection equipment having a measuring unit. The substrate to be inspected is mounted on the substrate stage. In this case, the center point of the substrate stage and the center point of the substrate coincide (S100).

A reference point is set for the first time to align the substrate and sets a reference point to be used as a reference. (S110) Hereinafter, the reference point is referred to as a first point for convenience.

The first point is understood by the distance away from the substrate stage center point in the x and y axis directions. Accordingly, the reference point is aligned by moving a distance apart in the x-axis and y-axis directions with respect to the center point of the substrate stage. (S120) The alignment is performed by selectively moving the measuring unit or the substrate stage. Or by simultaneously moving the measuring unit and the substrate stage.

 The first point is used to align the substrate to the inspection equipment at the beginning of the inspection, and is used as a reference when a new measurement is started due to an error that may occur in the measurement process or when an arbitrary chip is to be measured arbitrarily. Thus, the first point is a reference for all measurement positions.

The alignment is a value already set to correct the alignment in order to proceed with the actual process (S130).

The measurement point of the position to be measured is set by moving based on the first point (S140). Hereinafter, the measurement point is referred to as a second point for convenience. The said 2nd point is grasped | ascertained by the distance | distance to the x-axis and y-axis direction from a 1st point. Subsequently, the second point is measured by a distance separated in the x-axis and y-axis directions with respect to the first point (S150). The second point is a position where the chip on the semiconductor substrate is measured.

When the test is completed, it is determined whether the test is completed (S160). If the test is not completed, the test is repeatedly moved to a new measuring position and the test is completed when the test is completed for all measuring positions.

At this time, the new measurement position is recognized as the third point set third. The third point is also understood by the distance away from the first point in the x and y axis directions.

In this way, the center point of the substrate stage is recognized as the center point of the substrate, the reference point is calculated inversely based on the center point, and the measurement position can be easily estimated by inversely estimating the reference point based on the reference point.

2 is a moving position setting method of a semiconductor substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the reference point is set before the semiconductor substrate inspection process. In order to set the reference point, a map, which is chip arrangement information formed on a substrate to be inspected, must be input to the inspection equipment.

The inspection apparatus matches the center point of the input map with the center point of the substrate stage (S210). That is, the inspection apparatus determines the center point of the input map as the center point of the substrate stage.

Designate a reference point to be a reference from the map (S220).

Calculate the distance between the reference point and the center point. That is, the distance to the reference point is calculated with respect to the x-axis and y-axis directions based on the recognized center point (S230).

The distance is recognized as a first distance and a position separated by the distance is set as a reference point (S240).

A measurement point is set by designating a position to be measured as a measurement point, calculating a distance to the measurement point based on the reference point in the x-axis and y-axis directions, and recognizing it as a second distance.

In this case, the inspection equipment may be mounted on the substrate, and the setting method may be set remotely on a plurality of equipments provided in the semiconductor production line. In other words, it is possible to reduce the repetition of the same operation by transmitting a single data to multiple devices at the same time.

 3A is a plan view of the entire semiconductor substrate to be measured by the inspection method in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3B is a plan view of the portion of the semiconductor substrate to be measured with respect to part A of FIG. 3A.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the chip 300 formed on the semiconductor substrate may include a unit region including four chips and an x-axis scribe line and a y-axis scribe line 330 formed along the periphery of the chips. (A) is composed of the same repeating arrangement as the board. The unit region is recognized as a matrix in a row and a column on a semiconductor substrate. In practice, since the length of each unit region constituting the matrix has a specific value, the spacing of the matrix is equal to that of the unit region.

Therefore, the information on the semiconductor substrate to be input to the inspection equipment includes the arrangement of the chip, the size of the chip, the pitch spacing, the scribe line distance and the chip arrangement center point of the unit region including the repeated chip and the scribe line. Means all information of what is formed on the semiconductor substrate as a map to the semiconductor substrate such as an offset or the like. In this case, the offset represents the degree to which the center of the chip array is displaced from the center of the actual substrate in order to arrange the maximum number of chips when the chips are arranged with respect to the center of the substrate.

Calculation method for setting the reference point

3A and 3B, the arrangement of the unit regions A formed on the substrate to be measured may be expressed as a matrix. Therefore, the spacing of each matrix is equal to the pitch of the unit region formed on the substrate. That is, the spacing of the columns is equal to the pitch in the x-axis direction of the unit region A, and the spacing of the rows is equal to the pitch in the y-axis direction. The directionality is based on a map initially set on the inspection equipment.

Since the matrix indicates the arrangement of each unit region, a position to be set as a reference point can be selected as the matrix. In this case, the reference point may be expressed as a distance between the matrix points as the center point. In addition, the center point of the substrate has the same coordinates as the coordinates of the center point of the substrate stage. The coordinates of the substrate stage are recognized as absolute coordinates that take precedence over all coordinates made in the inspection. Therefore, the reference point can be estimated by the distance by the matrix interval with respect to the absolute coordinates can be recognized by the inspection equipment. That is, the coordinate of the reference point is expressed by the absolute coordinate of the center point-(the pitch x matrix interval of the unit area) ± the process equipment map offset value.

4A to 4B are plan views of a semiconductor substrate map according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* If the array of unit areas is even

Referring to FIG. 4A, when the arrangement of the unit areas 400 formed on the substrate is regarded as 10 rows and 10 columns to recognize the substrate as coordinates, 0 to 0 in the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction are formed on the substrate. There are eleven x and y coordinates of 10, respectively. At this time, the matrix coordinates of the center point 420 of the substrate is represented by (5, 5) and the absolute coordinates corresponding to the matrix coordinates are (100000um, 100000um). The pitch of each unit region 400 is 20000 um for the x-axis and 20000 um for the y-axis. In addition, the offset value of the process equipment map is 0um on the x-axis and -3000um on the y-axis. Therefore, if the coordinate of the reference point 440 is (2, 4), the x coordinate of the absolute coordinate corresponding to the coordinate of (2, 4) is 40000um by 100000- (20000x3) ± 0, and the y coordinate is 100000. 77000um to 83000um by-(20000x1) ± (-3000).

* If the unit area is odd

Referring to FIG. 4B, when the array of unit regions 410 formed on the substrate is regarded as nine rows and nine columns in order to recognize the substrate as coordinates, from 0 to 0 in the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction on the substrate. There are 10 x and y coordinates of 9, respectively. In this case, the matrix coordinates of the center point 430 of the substrate are represented by (4.5, 4.5) and the absolute coordinates corresponding to the matrix coordinates are (100000um, 100000um). The pitch of each unit region 410 is 20000 um for the x-axis and 20000 um for the y-axis. In addition, the offset value of the process facility map is 0um for the x-axis and 3000um for the y-axis. Therefore, if the coordinate of the reference point 450 is (1, 3), the x coordinate of the absolute coordinate corresponding to the coordinate (1, 3) is 30000um by 100000- (20000x3.5) ± 0, and the y coordinate Is 67000um to 73000um by 100000- (20000x1.5) ± 3000.

In this manner, odd rows and even columns or even rows and odd columns can be calculated, respectively. When the x-axis maps the substrate, the x-axis is created from the center of the substrate, so that the inverse can be estimated from the center by the number of matrices.

Calculation method for measuring point setting

Referring to FIG. 3B, information about the unit area 310 may be known by a map of a substrate initially input to the inspection equipment. However, since the scribe line is additionally provided on the actual substrate, in order to move to the position where the unit region is formed and to measure the image of the unit region, the scribe line must be compensated additionally to the position identified from the map.

That is, in order to measure the measurement point 340, the x-axis measurement coordinate is represented by the sum of the x-axis scribe line size / 2 (350) and the distance 355 to the x-axis measurement point of the chip, and the y-axis measurement coordinate is the y-axis It is expressed as the sum of the scribe line size / 2 360 and the distance 365 to the y-axis measurement point of the chip. Therefore, the measurement position can be found only by the numerical value without directly checking the substrate.

In this way, the reference point and measurement point to be set can be collectively transferred to a plurality of equipments in the process by a computer as a data file. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time and manpower consumption of setting the measuring position for each device individually.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the state in which the substrate having the actual pattern is not introduced into the inspection equipment, only the information of the substrate is input to the inspection equipment, and the center point of the substrate and the center point of the substrate stage are identically recognized based on the information. The reference point and the measurement point of the substrate are aligned with the center point of the substrate stage.

In this way, by recognizing the center of the substrate stage as the center of the substrate, it is possible to automatically align the reference point and the measurement point of the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to save time required to align while directly confirming using the substrate on which the actual chip is formed.

In addition, by providing the data remotely to a facility installed in the production line of the semiconductor device it can be prevented that the process is delayed.

As described above, although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be variously modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below. And can be changed.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a moving position setting method of a semiconductor substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a plan view of the entire semiconductor substrate to be measured by the inspection method in the embodiment of the present invention.

3B is a plan view of a portion of the semiconductor substrate to be measured for portion A of FIG. 3A.

4A to 4B are plan views of a semiconductor substrate map according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (6)

Inputting chip arrangement information formed on the substrate into the device; Matching the center point of the substrate stage provided in the equipment having the measurement unit with the center point of the chip arrangement recognized by the chip arrangement information; Designating a first point from the arrangement information of the chip; Calculating a first distance between the first point and the center point with respect to the center point in the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively; Setting the calculated first distance in the x- and y-axis directions as a movement distance for moving the substrate to the first point; And And mounting the substrate to the substrate stage such that the center point of the substrate and the center point of the substrate stage coincide with each other. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps are performed by remotely transmitting data to a plurality of devices provided in the semiconductor production line at a time. The method of claim 1, wherein after setting the first distance to a moving distance, Designating a second point from the arrangement information of the chip; Calculating a second distance between the second point and the first point with respect to the first point in the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively; And And setting the position of the second point to a position to be moved by the second distance. delete Mounting the substrate so that the center point of the substrate stage and the center point of the substrate coincide with the substrate stage provided in the equipment having the measuring unit; Setting a first point on the substrate; Aligning the set first point and the measurement unit by moving in the x-axis and y-axis directions by a first distance between the first point and the center point of the substrate stage with respect to the center point of the substrate stage; Designating a second point to be measured on the substrate based on the first point; Calculating a second distance between the first point and the second point with respect to the first point in the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively; And And moving the second distance to measure the set second point. The method of claim 5, wherein the alignment is performed by moving the measuring unit or the substrate stage or simultaneously moving the measuring unit and the substrate stage.