Did You Know...
...that one person who claimed to be the inventor of the television is Russian emigre Vladimir Zworykin? In 1929 David Sarnoff, founder of RCA, asked Zworykin what it would take to develop TV for commercial use. He said: a year and a half and $100,000. In reality, it took 20 years and $50 million! Before his death in 1982 at the age of 92, Zworykin said of his invention: "The technique is wonderful. It is beyond my expectations. But the programs! I would never let my children even come close to this thing."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8153930 | Apparatus and methods for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a substrate Methods and apparatuses are provided for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a semiconductor substrate. At least one photonic beam may be generated and manipulated to form an image having an intensity profile with an extended uniform regi... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8088633 | Optical alignment methods for forming LEDs having a rough surface A method of aligning a wafer when lithographically fabricating a light-emitting diode (LED). The method includes forming on the wafer at least one roughened alignment mark having a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness σS. The roughened alignment mark... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8071908 | Edge with minimal diffraction effects Apparatuses and methods are provide thermally processing of the central portion of a substrate surface using a scanned photonic beam. Such thermal processing is carried out using a shield to block the beam from illuminating the side wall or peripheral portion of the... | 12/06/2011 |
| 8067305 | Electrically conductive structure on a semiconductor substrate formed from printing Provided are methods for forming an electrically conductive structure of a desired three-dimensional shape on a substantially planar surface of a substrate, e.g., a semiconductor wafer. Typically, the particulate matter is deposited in a layer-by-layer manner and ad... | 11/29/2011 |
| 8026519 | Systems and methods for forming a time-averaged line image Systems and methods for forming a time-averaged line image having a relatively high amount of intensity uniformity along its length is disclosed. The method includes forming at an image plane a line image having a first amount of intensity non-uniformity in a long-a... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8017424 | Dual-sided substrate measurement apparatus and methods An apparatus for measuring the relative positions of frontside and backside alignment marks located on opposite sides of a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus includes upper and lower optical systems that allow for simultaneous imaging of frontside and backside al... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8014427 | Line imaging systems and methods for laser annealing The line imaging system includes a laser, first and second cylindrical optical systems with a first spatial filter disposed therebetween, a knife-edge aperture, a cylindrical relay system, and a cylindrical focusing lens. The first spatial filter is configured to tr... | 09/06/2011 |
| 7947968 | Processing substrates using direct and recycled radiation Provided are apparatuses for processing a surface of a substrate using direct and recycled radiation reflected from the substrate. The apparatus includes a radiation source positioned to direct a radiation beam toward a beam image forming system that forms a beam im... | 05/24/2011 |
| 7902040 | Dual-sided substrate measurement apparatus and methods An apparatus for measuring the relative positions of frontside and backside alignment marks located on opposite sides of a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus includes upper and lower optical systems that allow for simultaneous imaging of frontside and backside al... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7847213 | Method and apparatus for modifying an intensity profile of a coherent photonic beam A coherent beam source, e.g., a laser having a cavity that is unstable in at least one direction, is used to produce a coherent beam having an initial intensity profile. The beam is passed through a relay having a Fourier plane containing a spatial filter that serve... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7879741 | Laser thermal annealing of lightly doped silicon substrates Apparatus and method for performing laser thermal annealing (LTA) of a substrate using an annealing radiation beam that is not substantially absorbed in the substrate at room temperature. The method takes advantage of the fact that the absorption of long wavelength ... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7767927 | Methods and apparatus for remote temperature measurement of a specular surface Methods and apparatus for remotely measuring temperature of a specular surface. Method takes two measurements of P-polarized radiation emitted at or near Brewster angle from the surface. First measurement (SA) collects and detects first amount of radiation emitted d... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7763828 | Laser thermal processing with laser diode radiation A method and apparatus for performing laser thermal processing (LTP) using a two-dimensional array of laser diodes to form a line image, which is scanned across a substrate. The apparatus includes a two-dimensional array of laser diodes, the radiation from which is ... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7751067 | Substrate-alignment using detector of substrate material Methods and apparatuses are provided for positioning a substrate having a target that may be located on either the front-side or the backside of the substrate. The optical detector that views the target contains a signal-generating material that is substantially ide... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7744274 | Methods and apparatus for temperature measurement and control on a remote substrate surface Provided is an apparatus for substrate processing. The apparatus may include a radiation source emitting a photonic beam, an optical system to form a beam image, a scanning stage, a temperature monitoring means, an output signal generator that compares the monitored... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7732353 | Methods of forming a denuded zone in a semiconductor wafer using rapid laser annealing Methods for forming a denuded zone in an oxygen-containing semiconductor wafer using rapid laser annealing (RLA) are disclosed. The method includes scanning an intense beam of laser radiation over the surface of the wafer to raise the temperature of each point on th... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7731798 | Heated chuck for laser thermal processing A chuck for supporting a wafer and maintaining a constant background temperature across the wafer during laser thermal processing (LTP) is disclosed. The chuck includes a heat sink and a thermal mass in the form of a heater module. The heater module is in thermal co... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7671966 | Computer architecture for and method of high-resolution imaging using a low-resolution image transducer Parallel data bus architecture, lithography system and method for substrate patterning with a high-resolution image by data generation transferring, display or printing high edge placement accuracy images from multiple exposures of plurality of predefined patterns w... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7612372 | Method and system for laser thermal processing of semiconductor devices Methods and systems for performing laser thermal processing (LTP) of semiconductor devices are disclosed. The method includes forming a dielectric cap atop a temperature-sensitive element, and then forming an absorber layer atop the dielectric layer. A switch layer ... | 11/03/2009 |
| 7528937 | Dual-sided substrate measurement apparatus and methods An apparatus for measuring the relative positions of frontside and backside alignment marks located on opposite sides of a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus includes upper and lower optical systems that allow for simultaneous imaging of frontside and backside al... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7514305 | Apparatus and methods for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a substrate Methods and apparatuses are provided for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a semiconductor substrate. At least one photonic beam may be generated and manipulated to form an image having an intensity profile with an extended uniform regi... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7494942 | Laser thermal annealing of lightly doped silicon substrates A method for performing laser thermal annealing (LTA) of a substrate using an annealing radiation beam that is not substantially absorbed in the substrate at room temperature. The method takes advantage of the fact that the absorption of long wavelength radiation (1... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7482254 | Apparatus and methods for thermally processing undoped and lightly doped substrates without pre-heating Apparatus for and methods of thermally processing undoped or lightly doped semiconductor wafers (30) that typically are not very absorptive of an annealing radiation beam (14) are disclosed. The apparatus (10) uses a relatively low power activat... | 01/27/2009 |
| 7433051 | Determination of lithography misalignment based on curvature and stress mapping data of substrates Provided are methods to be carried out prior to, while, and/or after performing a photolithographic process to a wafer that involve wafer misalignment assessment. The method involves obtaining curvature and/or deformation information of a surface of the wafer over a... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7399945 | Method of thermal processing a substrate with direct and redirected reflected radiation Apparatus and methods for thermally processing a substrate with scanned laser radiation are disclosed. The apparatus includes a continuous radiation source and an optical system that forms an image on a substrate. The image is scanned relative to the substrate surfa... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7369251 | Full-field optical measurements of surface properties of panels, substrates and wafers Techniques and systems for using optical interferometers to obtain full-field optical measurements of surfaces, such as surfaces of flat panels, patterned surfaces of wafers and substrates. Applications of various shearing interferometers for measuring surfaces are ... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7326877 | Laser thermal processing chuck with a thermal compensating heater module Chuck methods and apparatus for supporting a semiconductor substrate and maintaining it at a substantially constant background temperature even when subject to a spatially and temporally varying thermal load. Chuck includes a thermal compensating heater module havin... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7292616 | COlaser stabilization systems and methods Systems and methods for stabilizing a CO2 laser are disclosed. The system includes a detector unit for measuring the power in a select portion of the output beam. The detector unit generates an electrical signal corresponding to the measured power. The mo... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7253376 | Methods and apparatus for truncating an image formed with coherent radiation Methods and apparatus for truncating an image formed with coherent radiation. The optical relay system is adapted to form a line image at the image plane. The image is truncated by a variable aperture at or near the aperture plane conjugate to the image plane, to bl... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7238915 | Methods and apparatus for irradiating a substrate to avoid substrate edge damage Methods and apparatus (100) for scanning a surface (12) of a substrate (10) with an obliquely incident radiation beam (20) over a select scan path (210) to avoid damage (30) to the curved edge (14) of the substrate. T... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7177099 | Deep ultraviolet unit-magnification projection optical system and projection exposure apparatus A 1× projection optical system for deep ultra-violet (DUV) photolithography is disclosed. The optical system is a modified Dyson system capable of imaging a relatively large field at high numerical apertures at DUV wavelengths. The optical system includes a lens gr... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7176405 | Heat shield for thermal processing A heat shield (10) that facilitates thermally processing a substrate (22) with a radiation beam (150) is disclosed. The heat shield is in the form of a cooled plate adapted to allow the radiation beam to communicate with the substrate upper surf... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7157660 | Laser scanning apparatus and methods for thermal processing Apparatus and methods for thermally processing a substrate with scanned laser radiation are disclosed. The apparatus includes a continuous radiation source and an optical system that forms an image on a substrate. The image is scanned relative to the substrate surfa... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7154066 | Laser scanning apparatus and methods for thermal processing Apparatus and methods for thermally processing a substrate with scanned laser radiation are disclosed. The apparatus includes a continuous radiation source and an optical system that forms an image on a substrate. The image is scanned relative to the substrate surfa... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7148159 | Laser thermal annealing of lightly doped silicon substrates Apparatus and method for performing laser thermal annealing (LTA) of a substrate using an annealing radiation beam that is not substantially absorbed in the substrate at room temperature. The method takes advantage of the fact that the absorption of long wavelength ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7148953 | Apochromatic unit-magnification projection optical system A projection optical system suitable for projection photolithography is disclosed. The projection optical system is a modified Wynne-Dyson system capable of imaging a large field over both a narrow and a broad spectral range. The projection optical system includes a... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7145104 | Silicon layer for uniformizing temperature during photo-annealing An apparatus and method for uniformizing the temperature distribution across a semiconductor wafer during radiation annealing of process regions formed in the wafer is disclosed. The method includes forming a silicon layer atop the upper surface of the wafer and irr... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7116496 | High NA large-field unit-magnification projection optical system An optical system for projection photolithography is disclosed. The optical system is a modified Dyson system capable of imaging a large field over both a narrow and a broad spectral range. The optical system includes a positive lens group having a positive subgroup... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7098155 | Laser thermal annealing of lightly doped silicon substrates Apparatus and method for performing laser thermal annealing (LTA) of a substrate using an annealing radiation beam that is not substantially absorbed in the substrate at room temperature. The method takes advantage of the fact that the absorption of long wavelength ... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7095904 | Method and apparatus for determining best focus using dark-field imaging A method and apparatus (10) for determining a best focus position of an object (30) relative to a reference position (e.g., axis A) of a dark-field optical imaging system (20), with an effective focusing range up to 10 times of the depth of fiel... | 08/22/2006 |
