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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8138498 | Apparatus and methods for determining overlay of structures having rotational or mirror symmetry Disclosed are overlay targets having flexible symmetry characteristics and metrology techniques for measuring the overlay error between two or more successive layers of such targets. Techniques for imaging targets with flexible symmetry characteristics and analyzing... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8033190 | Process condition sensing wafer and data analysis system A measuring device incorporating a substrate with sensors that measure the processing conditions that a wafer may undergo during manufacturing. The substrate can be inserted into a processing chamber by a robot head and the measuring device can transmit the conditio... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8008207 | Use of ion implantation in chemical etching A method for controlling chemical dry etching to improve smoothness of an etched surface is disclosed. Ions are implanted into a surface to form a volatilizable compound at a temperature low enough to avoid, reduce, or eliminate formation of three-dimensional struct... | 08/30/2011 |
| 7952633 | Apparatus for continuous clocking of TDI sensors A method and apparatus for propagating charge through a sensor and implementation thereof is provided. The method and apparatus may be used to inspect specimens, the sensor operating to advance an accumulated charge between gates of the TDI sensor. The design implem... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7945086 | Tungsten plug deposition quality evaluation method by EBACE technology A first embodiment of the invention relates to a method for evaluating the quality of structures on an integrated circuit wafer. Test structures formed on either on the integrated or on a test wafer are exposed to an electron beam and an electron-beam activated chem... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7566873 | High-resolution, low-distortion and high-efficiency optical coupling in detection system of electron beam apparatus One embodiment relates to an apparatus for inspecting a substrate using charged particles. The apparatus includes an illumination subsystem, an objective subsystem, a projection subsystem, and a beam separator interconnecting those subsystems. The apparatus further ... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7561282 | Techniques for determining overlay and critical dimension using a single metrology tool Disclosed are semiconductor targets for measuring with a metrology tool having at least two incident beam modules and techniques for measuring the same. In one embodiment, the target includes an overlay target and a critical dimension (CD) target in the form of peri... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7560939 | Electrical defect detection using pre-charge and sense scanning with prescribed delays One embodiment relates to an electron beam apparatus. The apparatus includes a mechanism for moving a substrate relative to the electron beam column at a controlled speed. A probe beam gun is configured to generate a probe beam through the column, and a pre-charging... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7560691 | High-resolution auger electron spectrometer One embodiment relates to a high-resolution Auger electron spectrometer in a scanning electron beam apparatus. An electron source generates a primary electron beam, and an immersion objective lens is configured to focus the primary electron beam onto a surface of a ... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7535563 | Systems configured to inspect a specimen Systems configured to inspect a specimen are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to illuminate a two-dimensional field of view on the specimen. The system also includes a collection subsystem configured to collect light scattered from ... | 05/19/2009 |
| 7420681 | Gas purge system and methods Gas purge systems and methods and a spectroscopic ellipsometer are disclosed. A purge gas system may include an input beam optics housing, a collection optics housing and a gas purge manifold. The input beam optics housing may include a first gas flow path between a... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7295303 | Methods and apparatus for inspecting a sample Disclosed are methods and apparatus for inspecting or imaging a sample, such as a semiconductor wafer or reticle. In general, an optical inspection or microscopy tool that has a complex Fourier filter positioned in the Fourier plane of the radiation beam output from... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7280212 | Apparatus and methods for detecting overlay errors using scatterometry Disclosed is a method of determining an overlay error between two layers of a multiple layer sample. For each of a plurality of periodic targets that each have a first structure formed from a first layer and a second structure formed from a second layer of the sampl... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7277172 | Measuring overlay and profile asymmetry using symmetric and anti-symmetric scatterometry signals Systems and methods are disclosed for using ellipsometer configurations to measure the partial Mueller matrix and the complete Jones matrix of a system that may be isotropic or anisotropic. In one embodiment two or more signals, which do not necessarily satisfy any ... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7218392 | Systems and methods for a wafer inspection system using multiple angles and multiple wavelength illumination A method for detecting an anomaly on a top surface of a substrate comprises directing a first radiation beam having a first wavelength at the top surface of the substrate at a first angle measured from normal, and directing a second radiation beam having a second wa... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7190453 | Film measurement A method of determining the actual properties of a film stack. An incident beam of light is directed towards the film stack, such that the incident beam of light is reflected from the film stack as a reflected beam of light. The actual properties of the reflected be... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7184138 | Spatial filter for sample inspection system Spatial filtering is disclosed that improves the signal to noise ration of a sample inspection system of the type having a detector and collection optics that receive radiation scattered from a point on a sample surface and direct the scattered radiation toward the ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 6538730 | Defect detection system Scattered radiation from a sample surface is collected by means of a collector that collects radiation substantially symmetrically about a line normal to the surface. The collected radiation is directed to channels at different azimuthal angles so that in... | 03/25/2003 |
