Bizarre Patents
A gun that fires a missile, powered by gas "discharged by the operator of the toy."
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7528961 | Compensation of turbulent effects of gas in measurement paths of multi-axis interferometers In general, in a first aspect, the invention features a method that includes using an interferometry assembly to provide three different output beams, each output beam including an interferometric phase related to an optical path difference between a corresponding f... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7528962 | Apparatus and methods for reducing non-cyclic non-linear errors in interferometry In general, in one aspect, the invention features interferometry systems that include an interferometer configured to direct a first beam and a second beam derived from common light source along different paths and to combine the two beams to form an output beam inc... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7511826 | Symmetrical illumination forming system and method An embodiment of a symmetry forming device for an alignment system can include an interferometer, a compensator, and an analyzer. The interferometer can be configured to receive a light beam, where the light beam can be produced from a light source or from combining... | 03/31/2009 |
| 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 |
| 7423725 | Lithographic method In calibration of overlay performance of an immersion lithographic apparatus, two sets of overlay data are obtained from exposures carried out using, for example, normal and reversed meanders. The two data sets can then be used to eliminate effects due to substrate ... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7379190 | Stage alignment in lithography tools In general, in a first aspect, the invention features a lithography system that includes a stage for supporting a wafer, an illumination system including a radiation source and a lens assembly, wherein the illumination system is configured to direct radiation throug... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7349105 | Method and apparatus for measuring alignment of layers in photolithographic processes According to a first embodiment of the invention, a first and second reticle are used to form layers using a photolithographic process. The first and second reticles each include a grating positioned so that when the reticles are printed, the two gratings will at le... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7349069 | Lithographic apparatus and positioning apparatus A lithographic apparatus comprises a substrate table to hold a substrate, a reference structure and a measurement system to measure a position of the substrate table with respect to the reference structure. The measurement system comprises a first measurement system... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7349101 | Lithographic apparatus, overlay detector, device manufacturing method, and device manufactured thereby A device according to one embodiment of the invention may be applied to measure the overlay (e.g. as a machine performance number) quickly and over an expanded range of locations (possibly everywhere) on a wafer. One method using such a device includes measuring the... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7340109 | Automated statistical self-calibrating detection and removal of blemishes in digital images dependent upon changes in extracted parameter values A method of automatically correcting dust artifact within images acquired by a system including a digital camera includes determining that certain pixels correspond to dust artifact regions within a first digitally-acquired image. The dust artifact regions are assoc... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7319506 | Alignment system and method An alignment system uses a self-referencing interferometer that produces two overlapping and relatively rotated images of an alignment marker. Detectors detect intensities in a pupil plane where Fourier transforms of the images are caused to interfere. The positiona... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7301163 | Lateral shift measurement using an optical technique Alignment of layers during manufacture of a multi-layer sample is controlled by applying optical measurements to a measurement site in the sample. The measurement site includes two diffractive structures located one above the other in two different layers, respectiv... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7292346 | Triangulation methods and systems for profiling surfaces through a thin film coating An optical system includes a photolithography system, a low coherence interferometer, and a detector. The photolithography system is configured to illuminate a portion of an object with a light pattern and has a reference surface. The low coherence interferometer ha... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7289214 | System and method for measuring overlay alignment using diffraction gratings A system and method for optical offset measurement is provided. An offset between two grating layers in a compound grating is measured by illuminating the gratings with light having a plane of incidence that is neither parallel with nor perpendicular to the grating ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7271917 | Lithographic apparatus, position quantity detection system and method A lithographic apparatus includes a position quantity determination system to determine a position quantity of a movable part which is in operation at least partly surrounded by an area comprising a fluid. The position quantity determination system includes an inter... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7253428 | Apparatus and method for feature edge detection in semiconductor processing A system for identifying a mark or other recess formed in a substrate and at least partially covered by at least one layer of opaque or visibly opaque material. The system includes a radiation source configured and positioned to direct incident electromagnetic radia... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7253884 | Method of calibrating a lithographic apparatus, alignment method, computer program, data storage medium, lithographic apparatus, and device manufacturing method In one method of compensating for the distortion of front-to-backside alignment optics, a displacement vector between the estimated position of a substrate mark and the actual position of a substrate mark is calculated. An optical correction array is also calculated... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7247843 | Long-range gap detection with interferometric sensitivity using spatial phase of interference patterns An apparatus and method measures the gap between one substantially planar object, such as a mask, and a second planar object, such as a substrate. A gapping mark is used for measuring a gap between the first and second plates. The gapping mark includes a first grati... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7244534 | Device manufacturing method A method of manufacturing devices with device layers on both sides of a substrate according to an embodiment of the invention includes ensuring that the movements of the substrate during the exposure of the backside are a mirror image of the movements during the exp... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7236244 | Alignment target to be measured with multiple polarization states An alignment target includes periodic patterns on two elements. The periodic patterns are aligned when the two elements are properly aligned. By measuring the two periodic patterns at multiple polarization states and comparing the resulting intensities of the polari... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7230705 | Alignment target with designed in offset An alignment target includes periodic patterns on two elements. The alignment target includes two locations, at least one of which has a designed in offset. In one embodiment, both measurement locations have a designed in offset of the same magnitude but opposite di... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7230704 | Diffracting, aperiodic targets for overlay metrology and method to detect gross overlay A method for measuring overlay in semiconductor wafers includes a calibration phase in which a series of calibration samples are analyzed. Each calibration sample has an overlay that is known to be less than a predetermined limit. A difference spectrum for a pair of... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7230703 | Apparatus and method for measuring overlay by diffraction gratings A method for measuring overlay in a sample includes obtaining an image of an overlay target that includes a series of grating stacks each having an upper and lower grating, each grating stack having a unique offset between its upper and lower grating. The image is o... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7209235 | Accurate positioning of components of a optical assembly A passive alignment technique is disclosed to facilitate accurate positioning of components of an optical assembly. In one aspect, a method includes directing light onto components of an optical assembly in which a first component includes a first pattern of marks w... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7199878 | Scan exposure apparatus and method, and device manufacturing method A scan exposure apparatus according to this invention determines a scan velocity and a focus measurement position from process conditions and the like and determines a threshold Δ of the focus measurement position on the basis of the scan velocity. The scan exposur... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7193726 | Optical interferometry An interferometry system includes an interferometer to split an input beam into a measurement beam and at least one other beam. The interferometer directs the measurement beam along a measurement path that includes at least two passes to a measurement object, and ov... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7190521 | Space-variant subwavelength dielectric grating and applications thereof An optical device includes a planar subwavelength grating (10) formed in a dielectric material and having a laterally varying, continuous grating vector. When used to modulate a beam of laterally uniform polarized electromagnetic radiation incident thereon, t... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7181057 | Overlay marks, methods of overlay mark design and methods of overlay measurements An overlay mark for determining the relative position between two or more successive layers of a substrate or between two or more separately generated patterns on a single layer of a substrate is disclosed. The overlay mark includes a plurality of working zones, whi... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7177457 | Overlay marks, methods of overlay mark design and methods of overlay measurements An overlay mark for determining the relative shift between two or more successive layers of a substrate via scanning is disclosed. The overlay mark includes at least one test pattern for determining the relative shift between a first and a second layer of the substr... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7154242 | Moving member mechanism and control method therefor A moving member mechanism includes an electromagnet having a coil for driving a moving member, a first control mechanism which has an input portion which receives command information and an amplifier which supplies a current to the coil, and an offset compensation m... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7150767 | Method for producing an electrode for a capacitor from foil A method of producing an electrode for use in the manufacture of electrolytic capacitors for implantable cardioverter defibrillators comprises first coating the foil with a photoresist, second, applying a holographic image to the photoresist, third, removing a porti... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7139080 | Interferometry systems involving a dynamic beam-steering assembly An apparatus including: a multi-axis interferometry system configured to receive an input beam and direct at least two beams derived from the input beam to contact different locations on a measurement object to monitor changes in an angular orientation of the measur... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7130056 | System and method of using a side-mounted interferometer to acquire position information A system and method for acquiring position information of a movable apparatus relevant to a specific axis is disclosed. In one embodiment, an interferometer generates first and second beams and various beam-steering members are located to define beam path segments f... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7130049 | Method of measurement, method for providing alignment marks, and device manufacturing method In a method of measurement according to one embodiment of the invention, a relative position of a temporary alignment mark on one side of a substrate and an alignment mark on the other side of the substrate is determined, and the temporary alignment mark is removed.... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7120514 | Method and apparatus for performing field-to-field compensation The present invention provides for a method and an apparatus for performing field-to-field compensation during semiconductor manufacturing. At least one semiconductor device is processed. Metrology data is collected from the processed semiconductor device. A field-t... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7116425 | Faster processing of multiple spatially-heterodyned direct to digital holograms Systems and methods are described for faster processing of multiple spatially-heterodyned direct to digital holograms. A method includes of obtaining multiple spatially-heterodyned holograms, includes: digitally recording a first spatially-heterodyned hologram inclu... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7110121 | Rotation and translation measurement A position determining system (PDS)(100) or multiple parameters measurement system (MPMS)(300) particularly useful for translation and rotation measurement of objects having up to five degrees of freedom. A light source (122, 302) provides light... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7095499 | Method of measuring alignment of a substrate with respect to a reference alignment mark For determining the alignment of a substrate with respect to a mask, a substrate alignment mark, having a periodic structure, and an additional alignment mark, having a periodic structure and provided in a resist layer on top of the substrate, are used. Upon illumin... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7084987 | Method and system to interferometrically detect an alignment mark Coherent illumination is used to illuminate a symmetrical alignment mark with an image rotation interferometer producing two images of the alignment mark, rotating the images 1800 with respect to each other, and recombining the images interferometrically. The recomb... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7070405 | Alignment systems for imprint lithography Described are systems for patterning a substrate by imprint lithography. Imprint lithography systems include an imprint head configured to hold a template in a spaced relation to a substrate. The imprint lithography system is configured to dispense an activating lig... | 07/04/2006 |
