Defect detection is an important part of the semiconductor manufacturing process and facilitates the wafer’s ability to work correctly. Done after deposition, developing, etching, and other processes, the process of spraying locating particles on a wafer is integral to the wafer’s completion. There are several different types of inspection methods for this process, such as using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, or transmission electron microscope.

A particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, can detect, track, and identify high-energy particles that are deleterious to the functional substrate. They are big and size and even bigger in cost. Currently there are ionization detectors (semiconductor detectors are included in this category, as well as gaseous ionization detectors) and scintillation detectors

An inspection operation is do ne on the wafer to obtain location information corresponding to multiple defects on the wafer. Each piece of information constitutes an error value. An inspection operation is performed on the locating particles to obtain location information corresponding to the locating particles. The error values which correspond to each defect by offset location information are corrected in order to ensure the functionality of the wafer.

Some particles can be as small as 100 nm or less in size, which is difficult for standard re-detection methods to locate. These tiny defects can critically affect the wafer, so when substantially small (10 nm or less) particles are detected, unpatterned wafers are used in order to improve yields.

The following are commonly used for detecting different particles:

• Calorimeter
• Cherenkov detector
• Gaseous ionization detectors
• Ionization chamber
• Photographic plats
• Photodiode/Avalanche photodiode
• Semiconductor detector
• Scintillation counter
• Time of flight detector
• Transition radiation detector

Particle detectors are used primarily in applied and experimental nuclear and particle physics as well as the semiconductor industry.