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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8027037 | Method for evaluating microstructures on a workpiece based on the orientation of a grating on the workpiece In a measuring system, a method for evaluating parameters of a workpiece includes measuring a periodic structure, such as a grating, on the workpiece to produce image data. An orientation of features in the image data, produced by higher order diffractions from the ... | 09/27/2011 |
| 7876438 | Apparatus and methods for determining overlay and uses of same Disclosed are techniques and apparatus are provided for determining overlay error or pattern placement error (PPE) across the field of a scanner which is used to pattern a sample, such as a semiconductor wafer or device. This determination is performed in-line on th... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7864319 | Device and method for determining an optical property of a mask A coordinate measuring machine (1) including a plane (25a) in which there is arranged a movable measurement table (20) moving the mask (2) correspondingly in the plane (25a), at least one objective (9) and a de... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7368745 | Pattern recognition system A star pattern recognition system (1) comprises an optical filter arrangement (10) in the form of an array (12) of independently tiltable mirrors (M1), (M2). Light from a distant starfield (2) is incident upon the mirror arr... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7339676 | Optical method and system for the characterization of laterally-patterned samples in integrated circuits Disclosed is a method for characterizing a sample having a structure disposed on or within the sample, comprising the steps of applying a first pulse of light to a surface of the sample for creating a propagating strain pulse in the sample, applying a second pulse o... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7327476 | Thin films measurement method and system A method and system are presented for use in controlling the processing of a structure. First measured data is provided being indicative of at least one of the following: a thickness (d2) of at least one layer (L2) of the structure W in at leas... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7311008 | Semiconductor structure comprising a stress sensitive element and method of measuring a stress in a semiconductor structure A semiconductor structure comprises a stress sensitive element. A property of the stress sensitive element is representative of a stress in the semiconductor structure. Additionally, the semiconductor structure may comprise an electrical element. The stress sensitiv... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307715 | Method for the formation of a structure size measured value The structure size of a structure (100) is measured by forming an auxiliary measured value (Dx′, Dy′). A calibration measured value (Px′, Py′) is determined on the basis of a calibration structure (110), which comprises at least two structure e... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7291357 | Thin film deposition method and thin film deposition apparatus A thin film deposition method for producing an optical film with an optical characteristic on a deposition substrate in a vacuum chamber is provided. The method may include preparing in the vacuum chamber a deposition source which is a source of the film producing m... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7271911 | Method for the quantitative measurement of the pulse laser stability of synthetic fused silica glass The present invention refers to a method for the quantitative measurement of the pulse laser stability of synthetic fused silica, whereby this method avoids time-consuming and demanding measurements and saves material. First, the absorption of fused silica is measur... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7265382 | Method and apparatus employing integrated metrology for improved dielectric etch efficiency A method and apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer is provided for reducing dimensional variation by feeding forward information relating to photoresist mask CD and profile and underlying layer thickness measured at several points on the wafer to adjust the... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7253947 | Portable automated confocal microscope Described is a portable confocal microscope which includes a microscope stand including a shaft having top and bottom ends, a platform connected to the shaft by a height adjustment mechanism, a base member connected to the bottom end of the shaft and first and secon... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7223626 | Spacers for packaged microelectronic imagers and methods of making and using spacers for wafer-level packaging of imagers Methods of packaging microelectronic imagers and packaged microelectronic imagers. An embodiment of such a method can include providing an imager workpiece having a plurality of imager dies arranged in a die pattern and providing a cover substrate through which a de... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7196801 | Patterned substrate surface mapping A method for measuring a characteristic of a substrate, including directing an incident beam at an inspection grid of points on the substrate, receiving the reflected beam with a position sensitive detector, measuring the displacement of the reflected beam from its ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7182976 | Process for forming a thin film and apparatus therefor A process for forming a thin film is described that enables automatic formation of thin films having constant optical properties reliably and in large quantities with excellent reproducibility suitable for mass production. An apparatus for performing the process is ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180606 | Machine vision system for measuring heights of items A machine vision system (1) has two laser sources (2, 3) to illuminate a solder deposit from both sides for comprehensive coverage without occlusion. The camera (4) has an FGPA (32) programmed to define a subset of the sensor array (20... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7148448 | Monitored laser shock peening A pulse laser is configured for projecting a pulsed laser beam at a target site on a fluid film atop a workpiece for laser shock peening the workpiece. The fluid film is monitored by a probe laser which projects a probe laser beam at the target site, and an optical ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7126078 | Sub-micron adjustable mount for supporting a component and method An arrangement is provided including an electrode extending to an electrode tip for contacting a workpiece. A welding configuration of the electrode tip is established by exposing the electrode tip to a selected welding environment for use in forming a weld having a... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7109509 | Device for the detection of substrates stacked with a specific spacing For a device for the detection of substrates stacked at an opening of a wall element, there existed the problem of constructing the detection device in such a way that the detection of the position of the substrates can be performed more flexibly with respect to the... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7094613 | Method for controlling accuracy and repeatability of an etch process Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a method for etching in a processing platform (e.g. a cluster tool) wherein robust pre-etch and post-etch data may be obtained in-situ. The method includes the steps of obtaining pre-etched critical dimension (CD) mea... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7085676 | Feed forward critical dimension control Feed forward techniques can be used to improve optical metrology measurements for microelectronic devices. Metrology tools can be used to measure parameters such as critical dimension, profile, index of refraction, and thickness, as well as various material properti... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7075028 | Sub-micron adjustable mount for supporting a component and method Attaching an attachment surface of an electrically conductive workpiece to an electrically conductive support surface is described. In one aspect, a biasing force is distributed at least partially around a weld region of the workpiece to urge the attachment surface ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7025499 | Device for testing a material that changes shape when an electric and/or magnetic field is applied A device for testing a material that changes shape when an electric and/or magnetic field is applied, in particular a piezoactive material, having a generator to generate an electric field and/or a magnetic field is described. This permits a rapid characterization o... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7021838 | Optimizing alignment of an optical fiber to an optical output port A method of optimally aligning an optical fiber to a semiconductor laser diode, aligns the optical fiber to the semiconductor laser diode, attaches a solder preform onto the optical fiber, and applies a low power localized heat to the solder preform in order to ther... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7019845 | Measuring elastic moduli of dielectric thin films using an optical metrology system An optical metrology system is provided with a data analysis method to determine the elastic moduli of optically transparent dielectric films such as silicon dioxide, other carbon doped oxides over metal or semiconductor substrates. An index of refraction is measure... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6979425 | High capacity microarray dispensing A high capacity microarrayer for spotting solution onto slides in an automated microarray dispensing device. A microplate indexing device automatically moves, in sequence, a plurality of microplates to a solution removal area. A dispense head accesses each microplat... | 12/27/2005 |
| 6972136 | Ultra low residual reflection, low stress lens coating and vacuum deposition method for making the same A method is provided for coating optical lenses and other optical articles with anti-reflection (AR) coatings. The lenses have low reflectivity, provide a substantially white light reflection and have a low stress AR coating and are ideally suited for optical lenses... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6969836 | Space carving for measurement of high-curvature areas on a mechanical part A method of determining the leading edge (E) of a turbine blade or airfoil (P). The object is mounted in a desired position and backlit using a light source (S). The object and its leading edge are viewed using one or more cameras (I) which are positioned on the opp... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6956999 | Optical device An optical device includes a fixed reference. A first optical module has a first optical component prealigned with respect to a reference feature, the first optical module is subsequently mounted to a first predetermined location on the fixed reference. A second opt... | 10/18/2005 |
| 6950182 | Functional equivalent to spatial filter in ellipsometer and the like systems Disclosed is the application of a functional equivalent to a spatial filter in ellipsometer and the like systems. Included are demonstrated multi-element converging lens systems which focus an electromagnetic beam onto a fiber optic. The purpose is to eliminate a ra... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6935791 | Apparatus and methods for micro-positioning and alignment A fiber optic module according to the invention includes a housing, a light source, a positioning device, and an optical fiber. The housing defines interior and exterior regions of the module. The housing has a source receiving aperture and a fiber receiving apertur... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6911399 | Method of controlling critical dimension microloading of photoresist trimming process by selective sidewall polymer deposition A method for trimming photoresist features on a semiconductor substrate in a processing system. The method utilizes a process gas mixture comprising a hydrocarbon gas, an oxygen gas and an inert gas. The critical dimension (CD) microloading of the dense and the isol... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6798515 | Method for calculating a scale relationship for an imaging system The disclosed methods and apparatuses leverage a known value of a characteristic of an object to partially calibrate an imaging system “on-the-fly”, and minimize, if not eliminate, the need for a separate calibration image(s). Specifically, the scale relationshi... | 09/28/2004 |
| 6765282 | Semiconductor structure and method for determining critical dimensions and overlay error A semiconductor structure and a method of determining an overlay error produced during formation of the semiconductor structure are disclosed. The semiconductor structure comprises a first two-dimensional periodic pattern and a second two-dimensional periodic patter... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6756241 | Method of manufacturing semiconductor device and system for manufacturing the same A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device to perform processing, including pre-processing and post-processing, on a semiconductor substrate, a characteristic of the processed semiconductor substrate is inspected, whether the semiconductor substrate complies w... | 06/29/2004 |
| 6734970 | Method and a device for determining the radiation-damage resistance of an optical material A method and a device for determining the resistance of an optical material to radiation damage, wherein several sample volumes (1a, 1b; 1211-1233) within the optical material are simultaneously irradia... | 05/11/2004 |
| 6704107 | Method and apparatus for automated, in situ material detection using filtered fluoresced, reflected, or absorbed light A method and apparatus for detection of a particular material, such as photoresist material, on a sample surface. A narrow beam of light is projected onto the sample surface and the fluoresced and/or reflected light intensity at a particular wavelength ba... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6671423 | Method of suppressing geometric distortion of an image space A reference space includes a plurality of reference graphics. An image space is obtained by imaging the reference space. Affine transformation series are determined from the reference and image spaces for transcribing graphic cores of imaged graphics on g... | 12/30/2003 |
| 6643017 | Method and system for controlling the photolithography process A method and measuring tool are presented for automatic control of photoresist-based processing of a workpiece progressing through a processing tool arrangement. Spectrophotometric measurements are applied to the workpiece prior to being processed, spectr... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6603529 | Monitoring apparatus and method particularly useful in photolithographically processing substrates An apparatus for processing substrates according to a predetermined photolithography process is presented. The apparatus includes a loading station in which the substrates are loaded, a coating station in which the substrates are coated with a photoresist... | 08/05/2003 |
