Quantitative shear stress imaging in high throughput in-line Si wafer inspection

Defect inspection methods are basic steps in electronic chip manufacturing and power device production processes in the semiconductor industry. Based on stress induced photoelastic anisotropy, in-line polarized stress imaging (PSI) and quantitative determination of the local shear stress component are possible in single crystalline silicon wafers. Hereafter, such polarization stress images are compared and validated quantitatively with results of finite element simulations based on different 3D elastic models. Uniquely, high resolution at high throughputs is achieved for 300 mm wafer size in the present quantitative stress imaging study.