In-Line Inspection of Hotspots and Monitoring Strategies

Design Hotspots are features on a silicon chip, which are susceptible to pattern failures. While multiple methods like DRC, ORC, and in-line defect inspection are used to identify these hotspots, in-line monitoring of these Design Hotspots has remained a challenge. Existing methods of hotspot inspection, which include API and EBI are not suited for large scale inspection due to system limitations and throughput limitations, respectively. NanoPoint inspection, which is a recent advance in BBP inspection, has enabled in-line inspection of Design Hotspots at very high throughput. In addition, new monitoring strategies are needed to monitor the hotspots inline. In this paper, a methodology for in-line inspection and monitoring of Design Hotspots using NanoPoint BBP inspection is presented.