REMOTE SEMICONDUCTOR MICROSCOPY

A method and apparatus are described for remote semiconductor microscopy whereby video signals are broadcast from one or more microscopes to remote viewers. A live video signal is broadcast from the microscope over a network to remote personal computers located in the offices of process engineers. The office-based process engineers are provided real-time, or substantially real-time, views of a wafer, including peripheral views of the wafer outside cell array boundaries. The process engineer, in his office, can direct a technician, operating the microscope in the clean room complex, to display a desired cell region-of-interest with the microscope. As a result, the process engineers can more efficiently collaborate to solve process problems or even develop new process techniques.