Foreign object height measurement method and charged particle beam device

1 . A foreign object height measurement method for measuring a height of a foreign object on a sample from a charged particle image acquired by irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam in a state where a sample stage on which the sample is placed is inclined, the measurement method comprising:

storing in advance dependence data indicating a dependence of a calculated value of the height of the foreign object calculated from a foreign object image, which is an image of the foreign object extracted from the charged particle image, on an orientation of the foreign object;

extracting a measurement target foreign object image, which is an image of a measurement target foreign object, from the charged particle image; and

outputting a measurement value of a height of the measurement target foreign object along with a warning regarding reliability or measuring the height of the measurement target foreign object from a charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage and changing an orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object does not satisfy an acceptable error range based on the dependence data, wherein

the orientation of the foreign object is defined by an angle defined by a longest line segment among line segments that connect contact points between a contour of the foreign object image and inclination direction lines, which are two parallel straight lines extending in an inclination direction of the sample stage, and a reference line perpendicular to the inclination direction lines.

2 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

a ratio of a calculated value of the height of the foreign object when the orientation of the foreign object is a predetermined value to a calculated value of the height of the foreign object when the orientation of the foreign object is 0 is stored as the dependence data, and

a value obtained by converting, based on the detected orientation of the measurement target foreign object and the dependence data, a calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object image calculated from the measurement target foreign object image into a calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object when the orientation of the measurement target foreign object is 0 is output as a measurement value of the height of the measurement target foreign object.

3 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 2 , wherein

the calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object is obtained based on a distance between a longest line segment among line segments that connect contact points between a contour of the measurement target foreign object image and the inclination direction lines and a vertex or a top surface of the measurement target foreign object determined based on an approximate line segment that approximates the contour of the measurement target foreign object image extending in the inclination direction of the sample stage from each of the contact points, which are end points of the line segments, and an inclination angle which is an angle defined by a surface of the sample and an optical axis of the charged particle beam.

4 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

with respect to two axes of an approximate ellipse obtained by ellipse approximation of the measurement target foreign object image, when the axis intersecting with the reference line at an acute angle is defined as a first axis and the other axis is defined as a second axis,

when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image satisfies the acceptable error range based on the dependence data and a length of the second axis to a length of the first axis exceeds 1, the height of the measurement target foreign object is measured from the charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage by 90° and changing the orientation of the measurement target foreign object.

5 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image does not satisfy the acceptable error range based on the dependence data, the height of the measurement target foreign object is measured from the charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage and changing the orientation of the measurement target foreign object according to an angle defined by the reference line and a major axis of an approximate ellipse obtained by ellipse approximation of the measurement target foreign object image.

6 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

a measurement result of the height of the foreign object on the sample is displayed in association with a measurement position of the sample.

7 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

a classification learning device in which learning is performed in advance by using training data in which a plurality of the charged particle images captured by changing the orientation of the foreign object and the orientation of the foreign object of the charged particle image are set as a set is stored, and

the orientation of the measurement target foreign object is detected from the measurement target foreign object image using the classification learning device.

8 . The foreign object height measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein

the foreign object is an etching residue.

9 . A charged particle beam device comprising:

a sample stage on which a sample is placed and which is capable of rotating and inclining;

a charged particle optical system configured to irradiate the sample with a charged particle beam;

a detection system configured to detect a signal electron generated by irradiating the sample with the charged particle beam;

a control unit configured to control the sample stage, the charged particle optical system, and the detection system and acquire a charged particle image based on the signal electron detected by the detection system; and

an image processing unit configured to measure a height of a foreign object on the sample from the charged particle image, wherein

the image processing unit is configured to store in advance dependence data indicating a dependence of a calculated value of a height of a foreign object calculated from a foreign object image, which is an image of the foreign object extracted from the charged particle image, on an orientation of the foreign object,

the image processing unit is configured to extract a measurement target foreign object image, which is an image of a measurement target foreign object, from the charged particle image and output a measurement value of a height of the measurement target foreign object along with a warning regarding reliability or measuring the height of the measurement target foreign object from a charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage and changing an orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object does not satisfy an acceptable error range based on the dependence data, and

the orientation of the foreign object is defined by an angle defined by a longest line segment among line segments that connect contact points between a contour of the foreign object image and inclination direction lines, which are two parallel straight lines extending in an inclination direction of the sample stage, and a reference line perpendicular to the inclination direction lines.

10 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 9 , wherein

the image processing unit is configured to store a ratio of a calculated value of the height of the foreign object when the orientation of the foreign object is a predetermined value to a calculated value of the height of the foreign object when the orientation of the foreign object is 0 as the dependence data, and

the image processing unit is configured to output, as a measurement value of the height of the measurement target foreign object, a value obtained by converting, based on the detected orientation of the measurement target foreign object and the dependence data, a calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object image calculated from the measurement target foreign object image into a calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object when the orientation of the measurement target foreign object is 0.

11 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 10 , wherein

the image processing unit is configured to obtain the calculated value of the height of the measurement target foreign object based on a distance between a longest line segment among line segments that connect contact points between a contour of the measurement target foreign object image and the inclination direction lines and a vertex or a top surface of the measurement target foreign object determined based on an approximate line segment that approximates the contour of the measurement target foreign object image extending in the inclination direction of the sample stage from each of the contact points, which are end points of the line segments, and an inclination angle which is an angle defined by a surface of the sample and an optical axis of the charged particle beam.

12 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 9 , wherein

with respect to two axes of an approximate ellipse obtained by ellipse approximation of the measurement target foreign object image, when the axis intersecting with the reference line at an acute angle is defined as a first axis and the other axis is defined as a second axis,

when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image satisfies the acceptable error range based on the dependence data and a length of the second axis to a length of the first axis exceeds 1, the image processing unit measures the height of the measurement target foreign object from the charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage by 90° and changing the orientation of the measurement target foreign object.

13 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 9 , wherein

when it is determined that the orientation of the measurement target foreign object detected from the measurement target foreign object image does not satisfy the acceptable error range based on the dependence data, the image processing unit measures the height of the measurement target foreign object from the charged particle image acquired by rotating the sample stage and changing the orientation of the measurement target foreign object according to an angle defined by the reference line and a major axis of an approximate ellipse obtained by ellipse approximation of the measurement target foreign object image.

14 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 9 , wherein

the image processing unit is configured to display a measurement result of the height of the foreign object on the sample in association with a measurement position of the sample.

15 . The charged particle beam device according to claim 9 , wherein

the image processing unit is configured to store a classification learning device in which learning is performed in advance by using training data in which a plurality of the charged particle images captured by changing the orientation of the foreign object and the orientation of the foreign object of the charged particle image are set as a set, and

the image processing unit is configured to detect the orientation of the measurement target foreign object from the measurement target foreign object image using the classification learning device.