EYESEE: A machine vision system for inspection of integrated circuit chips

A mechine vision system for inspecting either "in-process" or completed (fully patterned) integrated circuit (IC) chips has been demonstrated. Applied to the inspection of a Darlington IC, the EYESEE system was shown to effectively replace a human operator in performing a final inspection task. EYESEE has been extended to inspection of certain Large Scale Integration (LSI) and Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) devices for characterization measurement of line widths and critical dimensions, for measurement of mask and reticle overlay registration accuracy, and for detection and identification of macro end micro defects. Technical feasibility has been established for automating many semiconductor inspection tasks. A comprehensive review of other relevant machine vision techniques used within the semiconductor manufacturing industry is presented.