ABSTRACT
This chapter explains an automatic highly productive tool and discusses the results obtained on it for detection and classification of visible crystal defects on unpatterned silicon wafers. An inspection cycle consists of the wafer being loaded into the microscope station and the existing coordinate data used for comparing the defect locations with corresponding reference zones in order to derive the necessary video information for a more profound subsequent analysis. The automatic inspection and classification station is distinguished by the following qualities and capabilities: It inspects and classifies any defect on unpatterned wafers in video realtime. A typical application for the customer is to find critical defects on the wafer, for example such as epi defects. Apart from new handling concepts, the technology also calls for new optical solutions and improved inspection and classification algorithms that are capable of examine the enlarged wafer area within an affordable time while yet classifying the critical defect sizes between 0.12 μm and 0.06 μm.
