1. A system configured to detect defects on a wafer, comprising:
an optical subsystem comprising at least a light source and a detector, wherein the optical subsystem is configured to direct light generated by the light source to the wafer and to detect light from the wafer with the detector during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer, on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer; and
one or more computer subsystems configured for receiving output generated by the detector responsive to the light detected by the detector, detecting defects on the wafer based on the output, determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design, and associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the positions of the defects comprises aligning the output for the defects generated by the detector to the first or second portion of the design.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for sampling a portion of the detected defects, wherein the system further comprises a defect review subsystem configured to generate images of the sampled portion of the detected defects, and wherein determining the positions of the defects comprises aligning images of the sampled portion of the detected defects to the first or second portion of the design.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein sampling the portion of the detected defects comprises randomly selecting defects from different subpopulations of the defects determined based on spatial distribution of the defects across the wafer.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein the defect review subsystem comprises an electron beam-based defect review subsystem.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining one or more characteristics of one of the different portions of the defects associated with one of the first and second process steps.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured to generate first and second inspection results for the first and second process steps, respectively, based on the different portions of the defects associated with the first and second process steps, respectively.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for separately monitoring the first and second process steps based on the different portions of the defects associated with the first and second process steps, respectively.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first process step is performed using information for only the first portion of the design, wherein the second process step is performed using information for only the second portion of the design, and wherein determining the positions of the defects is performed using the information for both the first and second portions of the design.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the space in which the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive is in a plane substantially parallel to an upper surface of the wafer.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein patterned features included in the first portion of the design are mutually exclusive of patterned features included in the second portion of the design.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the design is not formed above or below the second portion of the design.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of the design are formed on the same layer of the wafer.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of the design are formed on different layers of the wafer, and wherein when the output of the detector is responsive to depth of the defects below an upper surface of the wafer, determining the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design is not performed based on the depth of the defects below the upper surface of the wafer.
15. The system of claim 1, wherein the first process step further comprises a first patterning step of a multiple patterning step process, and wherein the second process step further comprises a second patterning step of the multiple patterning step process.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the design comprises structures for N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors, and wherein the second portion of the design comprises structures for P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the structures for the N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors and the P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors are wells.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second process steps are part of a back end of line metallization process.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored therein for causing a computer system to perform a computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:
acquiring output generated by an inspection system for a wafer during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer;
detecting defects on the wafer based on the output;
determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design; and
associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design.
20. A computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, comprising:
acquiring output generated by an inspection system for a wafer during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer;
detecting defects on the wafer based on the output;
determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design; and
associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design, wherein said acquiring, said detecting, said determining, and said associating are performed by one or more computer subsystems.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of mobile communication by determining schedules for transmitting and receiving data, and transmitting and receiving data between a base station and a plurality of mobile terminals according to said schedules, the method comprising the steps of:
transmitting particular orthogonal codes from the mobile terminals to the base station as alert signals indicating the presence of data to be transmitted,
checking, at the base station, whether the particular orthogonal codes are contained in the alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station, and when the particular orthogonal codes are detected in the alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station, transmitting, by the base station, data representing said detected orthogonal codes and the schedules, for transmitting the data from the mobile terminals to the base station, to the mobile terminals as an alert response to said alert signals, and
when the data representing the orthogonal codes used for said alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station are contained in said alert response transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminals, reading out the data transmission schedules in said alert response at the mobile terminals and transmitting the data from the mobile terminals to the base station according said schedules that are read out.
2. A method of communicating between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, comprising the steps of:
transmitting a first signal from the mobile terminal to the base station, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal;
receiving and analyzing the first signal at the base station, which has the plurality of codes, in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal; and
transmitting a second signal from the base station to the mobile terminal, if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.
3. In a base station, a method of communicating with a plurality of mobile terminals, comprising the steps of:
receiving a first signal from the mobile terminal, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes to distinguish the first signal from other signals of other mobile terminals, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal;
analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code is one of the plurality of codes; and
transmitting a second signal to the mobile terminal, if the selected code is one of the plurality of codes, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.
4. A base station capable of communicating with at least one mobile terminal, comprising:
an input and output unit for receiving a first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit for analyzing the first signal in order to determine if one code of the plurality of codes is detected in the first signal,
wherein the input and output unit transmits a second signal if the one code of the plurality of codes is detected, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the one code detected in the first signal,
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code at the mobile terminal before being received by the input and output unit.
5. A base station capable of communicating with at least one mobile terminal, comprising:
an antenna which receives a first signal from the mobile terminal, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
an accumulator connected to the antenna, the accumulator analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the code is present in the first signal; and
wherein the antenna transmits a second signal to the mobile terminal if the code is present in the first signal, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the code
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code before received by the antenna.
6. A system for mobile communication between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, the system comprising:
an input and output unit in the mobile terminal for transmitting a first signal to the base station, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal, and receiving a second signal from the base station;
an input and output unit in the base station for receiving the first signal from the mobile terminal and transmitting the second signal to the mobile terminal; and
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit in the base station for analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal,
wherein the second signal is transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminal if the selected code of the plurality of codes is determined to be present in the first signal, the second signal being corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted by the mobile terminal.
7. A system for mobile communication between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, the system comprising:
an input and output unit in the mobile terminal for transmitting a first signal including a code to the base station and receiving a second signal from the base station;
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit in the mobile terminal for controlling transmission of the first signal to the base station and reception of the second signal from the base station;
a modulator in the mobile terminal connected to the input and output unit for selecting the code from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
a demodulator in the mobile terminal connected to the input and output unit;
an antenna in the base station which receives the first signal from the mobile terminal;
an accumulator in the base station connected to the antenna, the accumulator analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal, and
wherein the antenna in the base station transmits the second signal to the mobile terminal, if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code.
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.