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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8184300 | Method and apparatus for reducing probe wavelength in laser excited surface acoustic wave spectroscopy The penetration depth of surface acoustic wave scales with wavelength. To measure thinner films using impulse stimulated thermal scattering (ISTS) it is advantageous to reduce the measurement wavelength to on the order of 1 micron. One way to reduce the measurement ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8139228 | Methods for optically enhanced holographic interferometric testing for test and evaluation of semiconductor devices and materials Improved methods and systems for inspection imaging for holographic or interferometric semiconductor test and evaluation through all phases of manufacture. Specifically, systems and methods are disclosed for extending the range of optical holographic interferometric... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8130382 | Determining endpoint in a substrate process An endpoint detection method for detecting an endpoint of a process comprises determining a reflectance spectrum of light reflected from a substrate, the light having a wavelength, processing the substrate while light having the wavelength is reflected from the subs... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8068234 | Method and apparatus for measuring shape or thickness information of a substrate An interferometer system and method may be used to measure substrate thickness or shape. The system may include two spaced apart reference flats having that form an optical cavity between two parallel reference surfaces. A substrate holder may be configured to place... | 11/29/2011 |
| 7969581 | Determining endpoint in a substrate process An endpoint detection method for detecting an endpoint of a process comprises reflecting polychromatic light from a substrate, the polychromatic light having a plurality of wavelengths. A plurality of light beams having different wavelengths are generated from the r... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7920274 | Method of measuring topology of functional liquid droplet in pixel, topology measuring apparatus of functional liquid in pixel, liquid ejection apparatus, method of manufacturing electro-optical apparatus, electro-optical apparatus, and electronic apparatus A method of measuring topology of functional liquid in a pixel, in which thickness or volume of the functional liquid in the pixel is measured by a surface topology measuring apparatus comprising: measuring surface topologies in which surface topology of the functio... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7852488 | Method and device for characterising a structure by wavelength effect in a photoacoustic system The invention relates to a structure characterising device comprising means which are used for generating a first pump radiation and a second probe radiation and for transmitting different wavelength radiation, means for producing a time offset between said first pu... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7808651 | Determining endpoint in a substrate process An endpoint detection system for detecting an endpoint of a process comprises a polychromatic light source which emits polychromatic light. The light is reflected from a substrate. A light wavelength selector receives the reflected polychromatic light and determines... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7733499 | Method for optically testing semiconductor devices A method for optically testing semiconductor devices or wafers using a holographic optical interference system with an infrared or thermal light source providing a light beam of coherent wavelength with a wavelength to which the semiconductor material is transparent... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7710579 | Measuring method and apparatus for measuring depth of trench pattern In a trench shape measuring apparatus, a substrate having a trench pattern extending in a predetermined trench direction on a measurement area is held by a holding part. A light emission part applies illumination light to the measurement area and reflected light of ... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7652774 | Interferometric endpoint determination in a substrate etching process In determining an endpoint of etching a substrate, light that is directed toward the substrate is reflected from the substrate. A wavelength of the light is selected to locally maximize the intensity of the reflected light at an initial time point of the etching pro... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7612891 | Measurement of thin films using fourier amplitude Thin-film thickness and refractive index are measured using the Fourier amplitude of a broadband interferometric spectrum. Due to the smooth nature of the Fourier amplitude as a function of wavelength, as compared to the fast varying Fourier phase conventionally use... | 11/03/2009 |
| 7545510 | Method of characterizing transparent thin-films using differential optical sectioning interference microscopy An imaging, differential optical sectioning interference microscopy (DOSIM) system and method for measuring refractive indices and thicknesses of transparent thin-films. The refractive index and thickness are calculated from two interferometric images of the sample ... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7522287 | Photothermal conversion measurement apparatus, photothermal conversion measurement method, and sample cell A liquid sample is irradiated with excitation light and measurement light, and a measurement position at which a traveling path of the measurement light passes through an excitation section of the excitation light in the sample is changed while the sample is being i... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7495772 | Multi-cavity Fabry-Perot interferometric thin-film sensor with built-in temperature compensation A fiber optic sensor includes at least two Fabry-Perot (FP cavities) defined by at least three partially reflecting surfaces which individually and together are capable of generating different interference spectra which are affected by temperature. One of the FP cav... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7466428 | Method of measuring thickness of thin layer in semiconductor device and apparatus for performing method A method of measuring the thickness of a thin layer formed on a substrate comprises generating a measured signal spectrum by reflecting a light off of the thin layer and analyzing a resulting reflected light. The method further comprises generating a theoretical sig... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7428057 | Interferometer for determining characteristics of an object surface, including processing and calibration Disclosed is a system including: (i) an interferometer configured to direct test electromagnetic radiation to a test surface and reference electromagnetic radiation to a reference surface and subsequently combine the electromagnetic radiation to form an interference... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7426039 | Optically balanced instrument for high accuracy measurement of dimensional change An instrument for measuring dimensional changes in materials, such as ultra-low thermal expansion materials, contains an optically balanced measuring loop. Both an object beam and a loop beam propagate around the measuring loop. The object beam encounters both oppos... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7417743 | Interferometry systems and methods In general, in a first aspect, the invention features apparatus that include an interferometer having a main cavity and an auxiliary reference surface, the main cavity including a primary reference surface and a test surface. The interferometer is configured to dire... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7411684 | Film thickness measuring method of member to be processed using emission spectroscopy and processing method of the member using the measuring method A system including: a film thickness measuring apparatus for measuring a film thickness of a member to be processed, including: a differential waveform pattern data base for holding a standard pattern consisting of a time differential value of an interference light ... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7403289 | Interferometry method for ellipsometry, reflectometry, and scatterometry measurements, including characterization of thin film structures A method including: imaging test light emerging from a test object over a range of angles to interfere with reference light on a detector, wherein the test and reference light are derived from a common source; for each of the angles, simultaneously varying an optica... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7403323 | Process control monitors for interferometric modulators Process control monitors are disclosed that are produced using at least some of the same process steps used to manufacture a MEMS device. Analysis of the process control monitors can provide information regarding properties of the MEMS device and components or sub-c... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7403288 | Method and apparatus for measuring thickness of thin article An apparatus (100) for measuring a thickness of a thin article according to an embodiment of the present apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an optical fiber interferometer (101), a signal processor module (102) and a measuring module ... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7400411 | Method for optically testing semiconductor devices A method for optically testing semiconductor devices or wafers using a holographic optical interference system with a light source providing a light beam of coherent wavelength with a wavelength to which the semiconductor material is transparent, splitting the light... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7387027 | Characterization of materials with optically shaped acoustic waveforms A method for characterizing one or more properties of a sample using acoustic waveforms is disclosed, and comprises directing a sequence of at least three optical pulses to the sample to generate an acoustic response in the sample at a frequency corresponding to the... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7379189 | Temperature/thickness measuring apparatus, temperature/thickness measuring method, temperature/thickness measuring system, control system and control method In the apparatus according to the present invention, light from a light source is split into measurement light and reference light, the optical path length of the reference light is altered and a plurality of measurement light interference waveforms resulting from t... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7369252 | Process control monitors for interferometric modulators Process control monitors are disclosed that are produced using at least some of the same process steps used to manufacture a MEMS device. Analysis of the process control monitors can provide information regarding properties of the MEMS device and components or sub-c... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369250 | System and method to inspect components having non-parallel surfaces The present invention provides a method to detect and generate ultrasonic displacements at a remote target for ultrasonic inspection. This method involves generating an ultrasonic wave at a first location on an upper surface of the remote target. This ultrasonic wav... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7365860 | System capable of determining applied and anodized coating thickness of a coated-anodized product A system for forming an anodized coating on at least a portion of a substrate thereby creating an anodized substrate is disclosed. The system includes a bath, a coating thickness monitor, at least one probe and at least one controller. The coating thickness monitor ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359069 | Polishing pad surface shape measuring instrument, method of using polishing pad surface shape measuring instrument, method of measuring apex angle of cone of polishing pad, method of measuring depth of groove of polishing pad, CMP polisher, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device The main sensor 15 measures the distance Lm to the surface of the pad 2a, and the sub-sensor 16 measures the distance Ls to the surface of the reference block 12. What is actually taken as the measured value is the value of (Lm+Ls)... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7352476 | Device for detecting atmospheric turbulence The invention relates to a device for remote measurement of the properties of the atmosphere, more particularly a device used to detect atmospheric turbulence. The device operates on the lidar principle, using the backscattering of a laser beam by the air. The devic... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7353141 | Method and system for monitoring component consumption A method for monitoring consumption of a component, including the steps of emitting a radiation beam onto a first area of the component and detecting a portion of the radiation beam that is refracted by the component. A radiation level signal is generated based at l... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7342665 | System and method for control of paint thickness The invention is directed to a system and method for implementing process control for paint thickness using sonic NDE techniques. The system may, for example, generate ultrasound waves in a test object during the manufacturing process. A detector such as an interfer... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7330275 | Method and system for determining the position and alignment of a surface of an object in relation to a laser beam The present invention generally relates to a method and system for determining the position and alignment of a plane in relation to an intersecting axis and using that known position and alignment to allow for corrections to be made when using the plane as a referen... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7327467 | Phase measuring method and apparatus for measuring characterization of optical thin films A phase measuring apparatus for measuring phase characteristics of a film applied onto an object to be measured includes a shearing interference system for providing incident light onto the object or light reflected on the object with shearing interference, a detect... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7321425 | Sensor and methods for measuring select components in sheetmaking systems A sensor for measuring at least selected component in a composition can include: (a) a broadband light source, (b) an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), (c) means for generating a beam of light from the light source and directing the beam of light at the AOTF wher... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7315382 | Interferometry method for ellipsometry, reflectometry, and scatterometry measurements, including characterization of thin film structures A method including: imaging test light emerging from a test object over a range of angles to interfere with reference light on a detector, wherein the test and reference light are derived from a common source; for each of the angles, simultaneously varying an optica... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7313959 | Magnetically attracted apparatus, system, and method for remote bondline thickness measurement Apparatus, systems, and methods for inspecting a structure are provided which use magnetically coupled probes disposed proximate opposite surfaces of a structure to locate, move, position, and hold a pulse echo ultrasonic transducer of one of the probes for non-dest... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7304744 | Apparatus and method for measuring the thickness of a thin film via the intensity of reflected light A thin film thickness measurement apparatus that can measure immediately after film growth thickness of a thin film of a substrate that is grown includes a light receiving/projecting unit directing light substantially perpendicular to the substrate and receiving lig... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7301645 | In-situ critical dimension measurement A method of monitoring a critical dimension of a structural element in an integrated circuit is provided comprising the following steps: collecting an optical interference endpoint signal produced during etching one or more layers to form the structural element; and... | 11/27/2007 |
