IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,657,689
Granted Patent B2
US 12,657,689 · App. 18/235,122 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Substrate defect-detection and comparison

Inventor: Jason Paul Remillard (Groton, MA)
Assignee: Onto Innovation Inc.
G06T7/001G01N21/8851G06T3/4046G06T7/33G06V10/44G06V10/764G06V10/7753G06V10/82G06V20/50G01N2021/8887G06T2207/20081G06T2207/20084G06T2207/30148
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,657,689
App. No.
18/235,122
Granted
Jun 16, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various examples described herein include image-processing tasks of image data used for defect detection and comparison of features on substrates. At least one of a deep-convnet-based and a transformer-based backbone network (a common backbone) that is arranged to convert various types of raw-image data into features that can, in turn, be used by smaller neural networks to perform final calculations of specific tasks. The smaller neural networks perform, for example, final defect-detections, die-to-die image comparisons, anomaly detection, and customer-specific tasks in a fabrication facility. The common-backbone network can initially be trained using self-supervised learning based on the raw-image data, and then transfer learning can be used to train a final application of the task-specific networks. Other systems and methods are also disclosed.

Claims (41)

1 . A system to provide comparison data in a fabrication facility, the system comprising:

a common-backbone network based on a machine-learning-based network, the common-backbone network including:

an input component to receive raw-image data;

a self-supervised training component to generate a machine-learning-based comparison labels from the raw-image data; and

an analysis engine to perform anomaly detection and classification of images received from a plurality of task-specific networks provided at edge nodes electronically coupled to the common-backbone network, each of the plurality of task-specific networks being coupled to at least one type of equipment, the analysis engine to convert the raw-image data into features that are to be transmitted to the plurality of task-specific networks to perform final calculations of specific tasks within the fabrication facility.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the raw-image data include acquired images and reference images.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the reference images include CAD-based reference images and reference-die images.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the common-backbone network is further configured to extract image features and align and scale the image features to image data provided to an input data component.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the image features are to be transmitted to the plurality of task-specific networks to make a determination of defects within the fabrication facility.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the raw-image data can be used to train a backbone network without a requirement for labeling each component of the raw-image data.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the analysis engine is further configured to compare images received from the plurality of task-specific networks with related ones of images in the machine-learning-based comparison labels generated from the raw-image data.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-learning-based network is based on at least one of a convolutional-neural network (convnet) and a transformer-based network.

9 . An image-processing system to categorize defects in a fabrication facility, the image-processing system comprising:

a common-backbone network based on a machine-learning-based network; and

a plurality of task-specific networks provided at edge nodes electronically coupled to the common-backbone network, each of the plurality of task-specific networks based on a machine-learning-based network that is separate from the common-backbone network, each of the plurality of task-specific networks configured to be trained for a specific task within the fabrication facility,

wherein the common-backbone network comprises:

an input component to receive raw-image data;

a self-supervised training component to produce a machine-learning-based comparison labels from the raw-image data; and

an analysis engine for performing anomaly detection and classification of images received from the plurality of task-specific networks, the analysis engine for converting the raw-image data into features that are to be transmitted to the plurality of task-specific networks for performing final calculations of specific tasks within the fabrication facility.

10 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein the machine-learning-based comparison labels is based on at least one of a convolutional-neural network (convnet) and a transformer-based network.

11 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein the analysis engine is further configured to compare images received from the plurality of task-specific networks with related ones of images in the machine-learning-based comparison labels generated from the raw-image data.

12 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks is configured to perform operations of defect detection and die-to-die comparisons based on the features received from the analysis engine of the common-backbone network.

13 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks are to be coupled to and collect data from at least one type of equipment including a metrology tool and an inspection tool.

14 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks is trained to ignore normal process variations for a particular process based on a pre-determined tolerance value.

15 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks are customized with task-specific recipes for a particular process.

16 . The image-processing system of claim 9 , wherein each of the machine-learning-based networks is based on at least one of a convolutional-neural network (convnet) and a transformer-based network.

17 . A method for comparing data in a fabrication facility, the method comprising:

receiving raw-image data as inputs to a common-backbone network, the common-backbone network based on a machine-learning-based network;

using self-supervised training for generating a machine-learning-based comparison labels from the raw-image data;

performing anomaly detection and classification of images received from a plurality of task-specific networks provided at edge nodes electronically coupled to the common-backbone network;

converting the raw-image data into features and transmitting the features to the plurality of task-specific networks; and

performing final calculations of specific tasks within the fabrication facility based on the features.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising using transfer learning for training a final application for each of the plurality of task-specific networks.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

extracting image features; and

aligning and scaling the image features to a common-coordinate system from the raw-image data within the common-backbone network.

20 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising comparing images received from the plurality of task-specific networks with related ones of images in the machine-learning-based comparison labels generated from the raw-image data.

21 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving the images from at least one of the plurality of task-specific networks from at least one type of equipment selected from an equipment type including a metrology tool and an inspection tool.

22 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the machine-learning-based network is based on at least one of a convolutional-neural network (convnet) and a transformer-based network.

23 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks being separate from the common-backbone network, each of the plurality of task-specific networks configured to be trained for a specific task within the fabrication facility.

24 . The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of task-specific networks being separate from the common-backbone network, each of the plurality of task-specific networks configured to be trained for a specific task within the fabrication facility.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 25, 2023
From: REMILLARD, JASON PAUL
To: ONTO INNOVATION INC.
Reel/Frame 065014/0155 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63371806 · Aug 18, 2022
Related Publication 20240062361A1 · Feb 22, 2024
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