3D volume inspection method and method of configuring of a 3D volume inspection method

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

a) milling, with a dual beam system, a volume of a semiconductor object to provide an exposed surface of the semiconductor object;

b) acquiring, with a dual beam system, according to a predetermined specification a two-dimensional image, of the exposed surface of the semiconductor object;

c) evaluating, by a control unit of the dual beam device, the two-dimensional image, using a trained machine learning method to determine that whether the two-dimensional image conforms with a predetermined specification;

d) based on c);

when the two-dimensional image fails to conform with the predetermined specification, triggering an adjustment of the dual beam system and,

when the two-dimensional image conforms with the predetermined specification, storing the two-dimensional image in a memory;

e) iteratively repeating a) through d) to store a plurality of two-dimensional images that conform with the predetermined specification in the memory; and

f) generating a three-dimensional volume image of the inspection volume using the plurality of two-dimensional images conforming with the predetermined specification,

wherein the adjustment of the dual beam system comprises at least one of:

adjusting the focused ion beam system to change a milling angle of the focused ion beam column relative to the semiconductor object, and

adjusting the focused ion beam system to change a milling range of the focused ion beam column.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming alignment markers close to or within the inspection volume, or forming fiducials close to or within the inspection volume; and

writing the plurality of two-dimensional images into a common access memory.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: selecting or discarding at least one of the plurality of two-dimensional images.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: flagging image regions of the two-dimensional image which fails to be in conformity with the predetermined specification.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein evaluating the two-dimensional image comprises evaluating at least one image property selected from an image contrast, an image resolution, a presence of specific features within a 2D image, an accuracy of an image of a fiducial, or an accuracy of an image of an alignment marker.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising triggering a repetition of the acquisition of the two-dimensional image when the two-dimensional image fails to be in conformity with the predetermined specification.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the three dimensional volume image comprises receiving the plurality of two-dimensional images from a common access memory, and extracting a three dimensional inspection result from the two-dimensional images.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein generating the three-dimensional volume image comprises two dimensionally processing data to generate a standardized two dimensional image dataset from the plurality of two-dimensional images.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein generating the three dimensional volume image comprises fusing data to modify the standardized two dimensional image dataset.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising: fusing the data to generate a three dimensional volume image dataset from the standardized two dimensional image dataset.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein generating the three-dimensional volume image comprises processing three dimensional data to determine at least one attribute of a three dimensional semiconductor object included within the three dimensional volume image dataset.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein processing the three dimensional data to determine the at least one attribute of the three dimensional semiconductor object included within the three dimensional volume image dataset comprises at least one of two dimensional intersection operations, three dimensional volume object operations, three dimensional object classification operations, or metrology operations.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein generating the three-dimensional volume image comprises extracting, displaying and storing of an inspection result from the at least one attribute.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein extracting, displaying and storing of an inspection result from the at least one attribute comprise at least one of data sorting operations, data analysis operations, or display operations.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising generating the three-dimensional volume image and at least part of acquiring the plurality of two-dimensional images at least partially in parallel.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of two-dimensional images are acquired from an inspection volume of a semiconductor object, by a scanning electron microscope.

17 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises re-aligning the semiconductor object by using actuators to move the stage.

18 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:

in response to completing the adjustment, determining that each of the plurality of two-dimensional images is in conformity with the predetermined specification by evaluating each two-dimensional image of the second plurality of two-dimensional images.

19 . One or more machine-readable hardware storage devices comprising instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising the method of claim 1 .

20 . A system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising the method of claim 1 .