Detection of defective areas and hidden weak patterns in the wafer using massive measurement data

As the measurability (sampling capacity, measurement coverage, and measurement speed) of metrology systems are being enhanced to keep pace with the evolution of semiconductor manufacturing processes, the detection of defective areas and hidden weak patterns by analyzing the massive measurement data is becoming significantly important. In this study, we propose new methods to detect defective areas and hidden weak patterns by mathematically processing massive measurement data. By applying the methods we propose, we were able to successfully detect the hidden weak signals of the millimeter scale in the wafer.