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3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7256884 | Particle detecting system and method of detecting particles using the same There is provided a particle detector system and to detect particles on target including reticle and pellicle. The system includes a light transmitting device adapted to transmit light beam to a target through an electrowetting microlens, a light receiving device ad... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7253887 | Metrology system with spectroscopic ellipsometer and photoacoustic measurements A photoacoustic system with ellipsometer, where the ellipsometer includes a laser light source for generating an incident beam, an element for focusing the incident beam on a sample, a unit for measuring the change in amplitude of the incident beam on reflection and... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7253891 | Method and apparatus for simultaneous 2-D and topographical inspection Apparatus for sensing information regarding a surface including a first plurality of optical elements arranged to acquire two dimensional information about a surface, a second plurality of optical elements arranged to acquire topographical information about the surf... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7252661 | Method and system for patient optical fixation A method and system for patient optical fixation are disclosed. One embodiment of the system comprises: a light source operable to provide a fixation light beam; a filter optically coupled to the light source and operable to attenuate the fixation light beam to prov... | 08/07/2007 |
| 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 |
| 7251043 | Method and system for measuring thin films An optical system is presented for use in a measurement system (100) for use in measurements of thin films of a workpiece (W), the system comprising an optical assembly (14), comprising illuminator assembly, a detector assembly, and a light directing a... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7251024 | Defect inspection method and apparatus therefor A defect inspection apparatus for inspecting a fine circuit pattern with high resolution to detect a defective portion is constructed to have an objective lens for detecting an image of a sample, a laser illumination unit for illuminating the sample through the obje... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7251036 | Beam splitter/combiner for optical metrology tool A combiner for optical beams includes a substrate overlaid by a multi-layer dielectric film stack. The substrate is a clear material and the dielectric film stack is a series of alternating layer of high and low refractive index. This gives the combiner relatively h... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7251015 | Photolithography mask critical dimension metrology system and method A photolithography mask critical dimension metrology system is provided. The system includes a radiation source, a holder operable to securely hold at least one mask oriented to receive radiation emitted from the radiation source, a projection system operable to dir... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7248354 | Apparatus for inspection of a wafer The invention concerns an apparatus for inspection of a wafer, encompassing at least one incident-light illumination device that radiates an illuminating light beam which is incident obliquely onto a surface of a wafer to be inspected, and an image capture device fo... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7247825 | Method and apparatus for scanning a specimen using an optical imaging system The invention is based on an apparatus and a method for scanning specimens (1) using an optical imaging system (3) and a scanning stage (2), images of the specimen (1) being acquired by means of a camera (4), and/or measurements on... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7248352 | Method for inspecting defect and apparatus for inspecting defect The present invention is an apparatus for inspecting foreign particles/defects, comprises an illumination optical system, a detection optical system, a shielding unit which is provided in said detection optical system to selectively shield diffracted light pattern c... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7248366 | Method for marking defect and device therefor The defect marking method comprises the steps of: installing a surface defect tester to detect surface flaw and a marker device to apply marking at defect position, in a continuous processing line of steel sheet; detecting the surface flaw on the steel sheet using t... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7245388 | Method and device for surface inspection A method for surface inspection, comprising the step of projecting at least two laser beams with different wavelengths to a same point to be inspected via a same projecting lens, the step of setting incident angles of the two laser beams so that fluctuations of valu... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7245366 | Surface inspection method and surface inspection apparatus A surface inspection apparatus includes an LD (10 for emitting a laser beam (L0), an irradiation optical system for entering the emitted laser beam (L0) onto an inspection surface (210) of a wafer at predetermined depression angle (α), a... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7245365 | Apparatus and method for detecting particles on an object An apparatus for detecting particles located on an object includes an emitter for irradiating lights to the particles. The object is disposed on a stage in a direction substantially parallel to a surface of the object. The apparatus further includes a driver for gen... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7242477 | Apparatus and methods for detecting overlay errors using scatterometry Disclosed is a method for determining an overlay error between at least two layers in a multiple layer sample. A sample having a plurality of periodic targets that each have a first structure in a first layer and a second structure in a second layer is provided. The... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7242467 | Method and apparatus for high-resolution defect location and classification In the manufacture of integrated circuits on a wafer, it is necessary to monitor the manufacturing process by inspecting the ICs as to whether errors or defects have occurred during production. It is already known to use a scattered-light device (32) to deter... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7239433 | Image reading apparatus An image reading apparatus which includes a timing adjusting circuit for adjusting a generation timing of a drive signal for driving at least an image pickup element which reads an object image and outputs an image signal of the object image, a memory circuit for st... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7240306 | Integrated circuit layout critical area determination using Voronoi diagrams and shape biasing Method, system and program product for determining a critical area in a region of an integrated circuit layout using Voronoi diagrams and shape biasing. The method includes the steps of generating a biased Voronoi diagram based on a layout geometry of the region and... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7239389 | Determination of irradiation parameters for inspection of a surface Apparatus for inspection of a surface, including irradiating optics which are adapted to irradiate the surface with an irradiating beam having an adjustable polarization. The apparatus further includes at least one detector, each detector being associated with a res... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7239381 | Particle detection method A method for detecting on a substrate used in the fabrication of integrated devices comprises the steps of (1) contacting the substrate with a monomer, wherein the particle catalyzes the polymerization of the monomer, and (2) detecting the particle using a particle ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7235777 | Light scanning microscope and use Light scanning microscope with an at least single-dimensional light distribution for grid-shaped illumination of a sample in a locally limited grid field and detector means for recording sample light as well as a sample table that moves in at least one direction, wh... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7234353 | Non-fluid acoustic coupling An apparatus examines the internal structure of an object disposed substantially in a medium such as air. The apparatus has an acoustic transducer assembly that emits and receives acoustic signals and an acoustic coupler that acoustically couples the acoustic transd... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7236847 | Systems and methods for closed loop defect reduction Systems and methods for repairing defects on a specimen are provided. A method may include processing a specimen, detecting defects on the specimen, and repairing one or more of the defects. An additional method may include detecting defects on a specimen, repairing... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7236625 | Systems and method for identifying foreign objects and debris (FOD) and defects during fabrication of a composite structure Systems and methods for identifying foreign objects and debris (FOD) and defects during fabrication of a composite structure. The system includes at least one light source positioned to emit light that illuminates a portion of the composite structure with bright fie... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7233389 | System and method for the measurement of the velocity and acceleration of objects A method and system is disclosed for determining a flight characteristic of an object in a flight path, the flight characteristic to be determined can be the object's position while in flight, a linear velocity, a rotational velocity or an acceleration of the object... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7232716 | Display device and method for manufacturing the same The average film thickness of an amorphous silicon film formed on a substrate is measured. Then, the amorphous silicon film is irradiated with a laser beam to form a polysilicon film, and the grain size distribution of the polysilicon film is measured. An optimum va... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7234128 | Method for improving the critical dimension uniformity of patterned features on wafers A method for improving the critical dimension uniformity of a patterned feature on a wafer in semiconductor and mask fabrication is provided. In one embodiment, an evaluation means for evaluating the critical dimension distribution of a plurality of circuit layouts ... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7233437 | Laser-scanning microscope A compact laser-scanning microscope that allows in-vivo observation, particularly of cells, with wavelengths ranging from the visible to the infra-red, can be provided. The laser-scanning microscope includes a laser light source unit, an optical fiber, a collimator ... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7230723 | High-accuracy pattern shape evaluating method and apparatus A quantity (or dispersion value) of a distribution of edge position due to random noise is expected to be reduced statistically to 1/N when N edge position data items are averaged. Using this property, the single page image is averaged in a vertical direction with v... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7230695 | Defect repair device and defect repair method A defect repair device includes a defect inspection unit configured to find a size of a protruding defect on a front surface of a multi-layer film having a rear surface opposite to the front surface, a calculation unit configured to calculate a repair energy so as t... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7227628 | Wafer inspection systems and methods for analyzing inspection data Wafer inspection systems and methods are provided. One inspection system includes a module measurement cell coupled to a host inspection system by a wafer handler. The module measurement cell is configured to inspect a wafer using one or more modes prior to inspecti... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7227113 | Confocal laser scanning microscope A confocal laser scanning microscope acquires confocal images of a sample. The microscope is provided with an optical-microscope optical system which acquires non-confocal images of the sample by detecting measurement light coming from the sample. The optical-micros... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7227165 | System and method for classification of timber The present invention provides a system and a method to grade a piece of wood and simultaneously to classify this piece of wood by allowing an examination of four longitudinal faces thereof, so as to determine optimal specifications for a subsequent use thereof such... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7227649 | Surface inspection apparatus A surface inspection apparatus (100) comprises a light (10) source for emitting a light beam L0, an optical illumination system (30) for projecting the light beam on an inspected surface (220) formed by a film 210, an optica... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7224446 | Apparatus, method, and computer program for wafer inspection The invention concerns an apparatus for inspection of a wafer, encompassing at least one illumination device in order to radiate an illuminating light beam onto a surface of the wafer, and an image capture device in order to capture an image of an illuminated region... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224470 | Method and apparatus for measuring surface configuration A method of measuring the surface configuration of a liquid surface, e.g. to measure surface tension. Liquid samples are confined in wells, e.g. of a multi-well microtitle plate, and a light beam is passed through the sample offset from the centre of the well. The i... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224471 | Azimuthal scanning of a structure formed on a semiconductor wafer A structure formed on a semiconductor wafer is examined by directing an incident beam at the structure at an incidence angle and a azimuth angle. The incident beam is scanned over a range of azimuth angles to obtain an azimuthal scan. The cross polarization componen... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7221445 | Methods and apparatus for detecting and quantifying surface characteristics and material conditions using light scattering A system for quantifying surface characteristics detects and quantifies characteristics of a surface of an object. For example, the system may quantify changes in surface roughness without contacting the specimen and without requiring precise temporal or spatial sta... | 05/22/2007 |
