Abstract

As semiconductor design rules continue to shrink, random nanoscale particle contamination on non-patterned wafers has become a critical source of yield loss and process instability. This study presents a simulation-guided workflow for improving the practical detectability of 30 nm particles in an optical wafer inspection system without replacing the installed platform. Three controllable optical parameters—illumination polarization, wavelength, and incidence angle—were investigated through defect simulation and then validated on a production-relevant non-pattern inspection tool. The simulation and experimental results showed that p-polarized illumination generated stronger defect-relevant scattering contrast than S-polarization, 266 nm illumination provided the best practical detection performance among the evaluated wavelength conditions, and oblique illumination produced more favorable defect visibility than vertical incidence. Guided by these findings, an integrated inspection recipe using P-polarization, 266 nm illumination, and an oblique incidence angle of 20–25° was implemented on the inspection tool. Under the optimized condition, 30 nm particles were detected, whereas the legacy condition failed to provide equivalent sensitivity. The results demonstrate that defect simulation can be used as a practical engineering instrument for recipe screening, sensitivity enhancement, and faster deployment of inspection improvements in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing.

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