1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to extended defect sizing range for wafer inspection.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Inspection of wafers and other substrates generally involves detecting defects and determining the size of the defects. Some inspection systems are configured to detect defects by detecting the light scattered from wafer defects. In general, defect size can be determined from the quantity of the light scattered from a wafer defect. For example, light scattering is typically proportional to the sixth power of the defect size. Therefore, the light scattering changes dramatically with defect size. As a result, it is difficult to accurately determine defect sizes across a substantially large measurement range with any one inspection system. However, determining defect sizes across a substantially large measurement range would be advantageous for a number of obvious reasons.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to develop methods and systems for defect size determination that do not have one or more of the disadvantages described above.