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  Scanning electron microscope with measurement functionUSPTO Application #: 20080109755Title: Scanning electron microscope with measurement function Abstract: A scanning electron microscope which efficiently makes measurements for plural measurement items at a time and allows easy entry, confirmation and revision of auto measurement parameters. Parameters for creation of a line profile from an image captured by the scanning electron microscope are entered as auto measurement parameters (AMP) to be used as common conditions for all measurement items. Also, plural combinations of edge detection methods and measurement calculation methods are entered as auto measurement parameters to make measurements for plural items. (end of abstract) Agent: Dickstein Shapiro LLP - New York, NY, US Inventors: Yuuki Ojima, Katsuhiro Sasada, Kazuhiro Ueda, Tsuyoshi Morimoto USPTO Applicaton #: 20080109755 - Class: 715811000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Presentation Processing Of Document, Operator Interface Processing, And Screen Saver Display Processing, Operator Interface (e.g., Graphical User Interface), On-screen Workspace Or Object, Menu Or Selectable Iconic Array (e.g., Palette), Based On Usage Or User Profile (e.g., Frequency Of Use) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080109755. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES [0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/398,522, filed Apr. 6, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/779,848, filed Feb. 18, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,053,371, issued May 30, 2006, which claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2003-044290, filed on Feb. 21, 2003, the disclosures of which are herewith incorporated by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a scanning electron microscope with a measurement function and a measurement method which uses it. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] The following patent documents (gazettes) describe conventional techniques in this field: [0004] Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 347246/1994 [0005] Patent Document 2: JP-A No. 22794/1996 [0006] Patent Document 3: JP-A No. 237231/1999 [0007] Patent Document 4: JP-A No. 213427/1998 [0008] Patent Document 5: JP-A No. 201919/1999 [0009] A scanning electron microscope with a measurement function (hereinafter called a measurement SEM) has been used for control of semiconductor sample dimensions or other similar purposes. There are two dimensional measurement modes: a manual measurement mode and an auto measurement mode. In the manual measurement mode, an operator visually makes a measurement using a measurement cursor. In the auto measurement mode, a measurement SEM captures an image of a pattern to be measured (hereinafter called an "SEM image") and creates, from the image, a line profile which is considered to reflect the cross section of the pattern; the position of an edge of the pattern is detected from the line profile and according to the detected edge, the measurement (length) of the pattern is calculated. In the auto mode, line profile creation, edge detection, and measurement calculation are carried out according to predetermined auto measurement parameters (hereinafter called AMP). Refer to Patent Document 1. [0010] Patent Document 2 describes a groove shape measuring method in which a secondary electron image of a groove is obtained from observation of its surface by a scanning electron microscope and the width of the groove or track pitch as a groove shape factor is measured. This method comprises the following four steps. In the first step, the secondary electron image of the groove is converted into image file data in a sequential file form. In the second step, according to the image file data obtained in the first step, a profile image of contrast is obtained by successively scanning the number of "bright" spots existing in a measuring unit area enclosed by a desired length in the groove direction perpendicular to the groove width direction and a length in the width direction, equivalent to one dot as the minimum pixel unit. In the third step, for the profile image of contrast obtained in the second step, an edge detecting slice level for measurement of the opening width of the groove, HLV, and an edge detecting slice level for measurement of the bottom width of the groove, LLV, are calculated from the following equations, where AVG represents the average of the number of "bright" spots existing in each of the measuring unit areas: HLV=AVG.times.SLU(1<SLU<2) LLV=AVG.times.SLB(0<SLB<2) [0011] In the fourth step, the track pitch between neighboring grooves is calculated using one of the edges of the groove opening or bottom which is detected according to the slice levels HLV and LLV calculated in the third step. [0012] Patent Document 3 describes a method of determining the position of a pattern edge and Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5 each describe a method of obtaining a line profile. [0013] In recent years, there has been an increasing tendency to use an auto dimensional measurement method and the accuracy of auto measurement has been improving year by year. In auto measurement, there are two operation modes: a semi-auto mode in which movement to a measuring point or identification of a measuring point is done by an operator, and a full-auto mode in which measurements are made fully automatically, or with no operator assistance, by executing a recipe file which stores wafer surface data, measuring point position data or other information. [0014] The recent trend is as follows: as semiconductor samples become smaller, measurement SEMs are more functional; they measure not only the line width of a pattern or the diameter of a hole automatically but also width roughness, edge roughness and so on for evaluation of the pattern shape. [0015] In the conventional techniques, a set of auto measurement parameters (AMP) is needed to make a measurement for an item in the auto mode. Therefore, in semi-auto measurement, if several types of measurements are to be made, it is necessary to specify a set of AMP for each measurement type, which is very troublesome. In full-auto measurement, if several types of measurements are to be made, required AMP data is stored in a recipe file and thus operation is easy, but it is troublesome to revise and check the stored AMP data. A resulting measurement value is displayed in a window of the SEM upon execution of measurement; when several types of measurements are made, it is not easy to check numerical measurement values so the operator has to wait for completion of the whole measurement process until a list of measurement results appears. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0016] An object of the present invention is to provide a scanning electron microscope which efficiently and easily makes measurements for plural measurement items and a measurement method which use it. [0017] Another object of the present invention is to make it easy to store, check, and revise auto measurement parameters to make measurements for plural measurement items. [0018] According to one aspect of the present invention, parameters for creation of a line profile from an SEM image are specified for common use for plural measurement items and entered as auto measurement parameters (AMP entry). Here, "AMP entry" means that parameters are specified in an AMP window and saved in a storage. Also, plural edge detection methods and measurement calculation methods can be entered in the AMP window so that measurements for plural items can be made easily. [0019] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scanning electron microscope with a measurement function, where plural measurement items including plural measurement calculation methods are specified for an edge detected by at least one edge detection method, or a single edge detection operation, in an auto measurement parameter (AMP) configuration window; a line profile is created from an SEM image; an edge is detected as specified from the line profile; and measurements are calculated successively from each detected edge according to the specified plural measurement calculation methods. Also, a measurement method which uses it is provided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Continue reading... 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