Did You Know...
...that it was melting ice cream that inspired the invention of the outboard motor? It was a lovely August day and Ole Evinrude was rowing his boat to his favorite island picnic spot. As he rowed, he watched his ice cream melt and wished he had a faster way to get to the island. At that moment the idea for the outboard motor was born!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8049897 | Reticle defect inspection apparatus and inspection method using thereof A reticle defect inspection apparatus that suppresses deterioration of optical components resulting from luminescent spots generated by an integrator and can sustain a defect inspection with high precision for a long time is provided. The reticle defect inspection a... | 11/01/2011 |
| 7973935 | Reflection characteristic measuring apparatus for sheet specimen and method of calibrating reflection characteristic measuring apparatus for sheet specimen A reflection characteristic measuring apparatus capable of scanning a specimen surface of a sheet specimen at a high speed is provided. The reflection characteristic measuring apparatus includes a group of illuminating and light-receiving systems for directing illum... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7826058 | All optical and hybrid reflection switch at a semiconductor/glass interface due to laser beam intersection The present invention includes a method of changing intensity of a reflected beam which may be expressed as a method of changing the amount of reflected light from a beam of light, the method comprising: (a) providing a substrate bearing a film of a reflective mater... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7586617 | Controlling a dynamic signal range in an optical time domain reflectometry A technique includes providing an optical source signal to an optical fiber to produce a backscatter signal. A receiver is provided to detect the backscatter signal. During an acquisition period in which the backscatter signal is present, a sensitivity of the receiv... | 09/08/2009 |
| 7460238 | Plasmon excitation by the gaussian-like core mode of a photonic crystal waveguide A sensor and method for surface plasmon resonance sensing, wherein a small variation of the refractive index of an ambient medium results in a large variation of loss of a sensing mode. The surface plasmon resonance sensor comprises an antiguiding waveguide includin... | 12/02/2008 |
| 7443508 | Spectrophotometric scanner A spectrophotometric scanner suitable for producing spectral reflectance images of surfaces of samples for a plurality of wavelength bands is disclosed. The spectrophotometric scanner comprises a scanner head for collecting spectral reflectance data, a positioning m... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7429735 | High performance CCD-based thermoreflectance imaging using stochastic resonance The invention is directed to systems and methods of digital signal processing and in particular to systems and methods for measurements of thermoreflectance signals, even when they are smaller than the code width of a digital detector used for detection. For example... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7420685 | Dispersion-free, automatically phase-matched, and broad spectral-band femtosecond autocorrelation technique Two optical signals are autocorrelated by causing them to be incident on a metal surface, where they generate a second (or higher) harmonic signal. The resulting harmonic signal is detected by a photomultiplier tube or the like. The harmonic signal generation on the... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7368292 | Differential reflection spectroscopy system and method for detecting explosives and other target materials A system and method for identifying explosive or other target materials includes the steps of irradiating a first location and a second location spaced apart from the first location from a sample suspected of including explosives with ultraviolet, visible or infrare... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7362441 | Modulated reflectance measurement system using UV probe A modulated reflectance measurement system includes lasers for generating an intensity modulated pump beam and a UV probe beam. The pump and probe beams are focused on a measurement site within a sample. The pump beam periodically excites the measurement site and th... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7301619 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7265571 | Method and device for determining a characteristic of a semiconductor sample The invention relates to a method for determining a characteristic of a semiconductor sample forming a surface. The method comprises the steps: simultaneously illuminating an area on the surface of a semiconductor sample with superimposed exciting light beams with a... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7142307 | Method and apparatus for optical interactance and transmittance measurements Apparatus and a method are disclosed for the simultaneous or rapid sequential use of two or more different separations between the source and detector of the measuring apparatus to obtain spectral measurement data in diffuse transmission or “interaction” modes o... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7141440 | Apparatus and method for measuring a property of a layer in a multilayered structure A property of a layer is measured by: (1) focusing a heating beam on a region (also called “heated region”) of a conductive layer (2) modulating the power of the heating beam at a predetermined frequency that is selected to be sufficiently low to ensure that at ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7130055 | Use of coefficient of a power curve to evaluate a semiconductor wafer A coefficient of a function that relates a measurement from a wafer to a parameter used in making the measurement (such as the power of a beam used in the measurement) is determined. The coefficient is used to evaluate the wafer (e.g. to accept or reject the wafer f... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7126690 | Modulated reflectance measurement system using UV probe A modulated reflectance measurement system includes lasers for generating an intensity modulated pump beam and a UV probe beam. The pump and probe beams are focused on a measurement site within a sample. The pump beam periodically excites the measurement site and th... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7088444 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7084959 | Compact pulse stretcher A pulse stretcher includes a first prism and a second prism positioned opposite each other. A first coupling prism is optically coupled to the first prism with a partially reflective interface that directs a beam towards the second prism in a helical path. The first... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7075657 | Surface plasmon resonance measuring apparatus A measuring apparatus comprising a measuring chip, an optical incidence system, a photodiode array, a differentiation part, and a computation part. The differentiation part differentiates an optical detection signal output from each light-receiving element, in a dir... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7075086 | Measurement of metal polish quality A value of infrared energy reflected from a metallic substrate with a polished surface is determined. The value of the infrared energy reflected, or conversely absorbed, is correlated to a quality of polish. According to an aspect of the invention, one embodiment of... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7071461 | Optical encoder having telecentric optical system An optical encoder including a graduation plate inscribed with a graduation line along a predetermined direction and an optical reader for optically reading the graduation line on the graduation plate in which a corresponding electric signal is outputted from the op... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7064822 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. One of the two measurements is of resistance per unit length. The two mea... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7026175 | High throughput measurement of via defects in interconnects Heat is applied to a conductive structure that includes one or more vias, and the temperature at or near the point of heat application is measured. The measured temperature indicates the integrity or the defectiveness of various features (e.g. vias and/or traces) in... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6982795 | Surface plasmon resonance measuring apparatus A measuring apparatus comprising a measuring chip, an optical incidence system, a photodiode array, a differentiation part, and a computation part. The differentiation part differentiates an optical detection signal output from each light-receiving element, in a dir... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6971791 | Identifying defects in a conductive structure of a wafer, based on heat transfer therethrough Heat is applied to a conductive structure that includes one or more vias, and the temperature at or near the point of heat application is measured. The measured temperature indicates the integrity or the defectiveness of various features (e.g. vias and/or traces) in... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6963402 | Polarization modulation photoreflectance characterization of semiconductor quantum confined structures A polarization modulation photoreflectance technique has been developed for optical characterization of semiconductor quantum confined structures. By using a tunable laser source in conjunction with polarization state modulation, a single beam modulation spectroscop... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6963393 | Measurement of lateral diffusion of diffused layers Any semiconductor wafer fabrication process may be changed to monitor lateral abruptness of doped layers as an additional step in the wafer fabrication process. In one embodiment, a test structure including one or more doped regions is formed in a production wafer (... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6958814 | Apparatus and method for measuring a property of a layer in a multilayered structure An apparatus measures a property of a layer (such as the sheet resistance of a conductive layer) by performing the following method: (1) focusing the heating beam on the heated a region (also called “heated region”) of the conductive layer (2) modulating the pow... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6940592 | Calibration as well as measurement on the same workpiece during fabrication Two more measurements are made on the same workpiece, during fabrication. Each measurement may be made employing a different process. The measurements are used together to determine a property of the workpiece. For example, multiple measurements from a first process... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6911349 | Evaluating sidewall coverage in a semiconductor wafer A sidewall or other feature in a semiconductor wafer is evaluated by illuminating the wafer with at least one beam of electromagnetic radiation, and measuring intensity of a portion of the beam reflected by the wafer. Change in reflectance between measurements provi... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6906801 | Measuring a property of a layer in multilayered structure An apparatus measures a property of a layer (such as the sheet resistance of a conductive layer or thermal conductivity of a dielectric layer that is located underneath the conductive layer) by performing the following method: (1) focusing the heating beam on the he... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6836338 | Apparatus for evaluating metalized layers on semiconductors An apparatus for characterizing multilayer samples is disclosed. An intensity modulated pump beam is focused onto the sample surface to periodically excite the sample. A probe beam is focused onto the sample surface within the periodically excited area. The power of... | 12/28/2004 |
| 6812717 | Use of a coefficient of a power curve to evaluate a semiconductor wafer A coefficient of a function that relates a measurement from a wafer to a parameter used in making the measurement (such as the power of a beam used in the measurement) is determined. The coefficient is used to evaluate the wafer (e.g. to accept or reject the wafer f... | 11/02/2004 |
| 6649361 | Surface plasmon resonance enzyme sensor A surface plasmon resonance enzyme sensor including a sensing part 6 having an optically transparent base 1, a thin metal film 2 made of gold or silver, and a film 4 provided on the metal thin film 2 causing electron transfer reaction with both the thin m... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6510259 | Optical switch using an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer having a movable phase shifter and asymmetric arms A Mach-Zehnder interferometer includes a continuous arm defining a first optical path having a length and a non-continuous arm having first and second parts with a trench defined therebetween, the non-continuous arm defining a second optical path the leng... | 01/21/2003 |
| 6240309 | Optical measurement instrument for living body Described herein is an optical measurement instrument for a living body, comprising light incident means for simultaneously applying incident light of a wavelength in a visible-infrared region to a plurality of incident positions on the surface of a subje... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6195166 | Photoreflectance spectral analysis of semiconductor laser structures A micro-photoreflectance technique has been developed for performing non-destructive analysis of III-V optoelectronic devices. By using a significantly reduced spot size (for example, 10 micrometers), various compositional features of the device may be an... | 02/27/2001 |
| 6130754 | Eyesafe transmission of hazardous laser beams An apparatus and method for transmitting a hazardous electromagnetic beam (10). A hazardous beam (10) and a non-hazardous beam (12) are generated and directed along respective paths which are substantially parallel and either at least partially coincident... | 10/10/2000 |
| 6054868 | Apparatus and method for measuring a property of a layer in a multilayered structure An apparatus measures a property of a layer (such as the sheet resistance of a conductive layer or thermal conductivity of a dielectric layer that is located underneath the conductive layer) by performing the following method: (1) focusing the heating bea... | 04/25/2000 |
| 5973789 | Method and device for detecting spectral reflectance The invention relates to a method and to a corresponding device for detecting spectral reflectance, an illuminating device arranged in a stationary fashion being used to apply to measuring fields moving relative to the measuring system radiation which dif... | 10/26/1999 |
