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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7871002 | Method and apparatus for self-referenced wafer stage positional error mapping Intra-field distortion for a projection imaging tool is determined using a self-referenced rectangular grid reticle pattern, that includes at least two arrays of alignment attributes that are complementary to each other, is exposed multiple times onto a substrate wi... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7846624 | Systems and methods for determination of focus and telecentricity, amelioration of metrology induced effects and application to determination of precision bossung curves An apparatus and method for the simultaneous determination of focus and source boresighting error for photolithographic steppers and scanners is described. A reticle containing custom arrays of box-in-box test structures specifically designed for performing source o... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7697138 | Method and apparatus for determination of source polarization matrix A method and apparatus for resolving both the angular (nx,ny) and spatial (x,y) dependence of the effective source coherence matrix for lithographic steppers and scanners is described. First an in-situ source metrology instrument is combined with in-situ polarizatio... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7688426 | Method and apparatus for measurement of exit pupil transmittance A method and apparatus for determining the state of the lens transmittance of an optical projection system are described. A lens or imaging objective transmission is determined as a function of exit pupil transverse direction cosine (nx,ny) at multiple field points ... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7671979 | Apparatus and process for determination of dynamic lens field curvature A technique for the determination of dynamic lens field curvature uniquely associated with a photolithographic scanner is described. A series of lithographic exposures is performed on a resist coated silicon wafer using a photolithographic scanner. The lithographic ... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7598006 | Method and apparatus for embedded encoding of overlay data ordering in an in-situ interferometer A method and apparatus for embedded encoding of overlay data ordering in an in-situ interferometer is described. An in-situ interferometer is encoded, or augmented, with special or missing alignment attributes at desired positions. Exposing a sequence of the encoded... | 10/06/2009 |
| 7544449 | Method and apparatus for measurement of crossfield chromatic response of projection imaging systems A method and apparatus for measuring the chromatic response of lithographic projection imaging systems is described. An apparatus for determining the lens aberrations for a lithographic projection lens is provided. A substrate coated with a suitable recording media ... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7515250 | In-situ interferometer arrangement An in-situ interferometer includes an image modifying optic that produces light ray bundles. The light ray bundles are projected onto a reticle with a plurality of measurement fiducials encoded onto a face of the reticle. The measurement fiducials are exposed onto a... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7381503 | Reference wafer calibration reticle An apparatus and method for manufacturing and using a calibrated registration reference wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing facility where an archive media includes etched alignment attributes. Exposing a pattern of complementary alignment attributes onto the arc... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7337552 | Method and apparatus for registration with integral alignment optics A method and apparatus for front to back substrate registration is described. Alignment characteristics of features on surfaces of substrates can be used to physically align substrates with a multiplicity of integrated alignment optics. Measurement of offsets of the... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7295291 | Apparatus and process for the determination of static lens field curvature A process for the determination of focal plane deviation uniquely due to the lens field curvature associated with a photolithographic projection tool is described. A series of lithographic exposures is performed on a resist coated silicon wafer using a stepper or sc... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7286208 | In-situ interferometer arrangement An in-situ interferometer includes an image modifying optic that produces light ray bundles. The light ray bundles are projected onto a reticle with a plurality of measurement fiducials encoded onto a face of the reticle. The measurement fiducials are exposed onto a... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7283202 | In-situ interferometer arrangement An in-situ interferometer includes an image modifying optic that produces light ray bundles. The light ray bundles are projected onto a reticle with a plurality of measurement fiducials encoded onto a face of the reticle. The measurement fiducials are exposed onto a... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7268360 | Method and apparatus for self-referenced dynamic step and scan intra-field scanning distortion Techniques for determining wafer stage grid and yaw in a projection imaging tool are described. The techniques include exposing an overlay reticle onto a substrate having a recording media, thereby creating a plurality of printed fields on the substrate. The overlay... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7261985 | Process for determination of optimized exposure conditions for transverse distortion mapping A process for providing illumination source conditions for the accurate determination Zernike tilt coefficients in the presence of coma is described. Large feature-shift coma sensitivity is simulated for a range of illumination conditions. The resulting source sensi... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7261983 | Reference wafer and process for manufacturing same An apparatus and method for manufacturing and using a calibrated registration reference wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing facility where an archive media includes etched alignment attributes. Exposing a pattern of complementary alignment attributes onto the arc... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7136144 | Method and apparatus for self-referenced dynamic step and scan intra-field lens distortion A reticle stage grid and yaw in a projection imaging tool is determined by exposing a first portion of a reticle pattern onto a substrate with a recording media thereby producing a first exposure. The first portion of the reticle pattern includes at least two arrays... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7126668 | Apparatus and process for determination of dynamic scan field curvature A process for the determination of focal plane deviation uniquely due to the scanning dynamics associated with a photolithographic scanner is described. A series of lithographic exposures is performed on a resist coated silicon wafer using a photolithographic scanne... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7088427 | Apparatus and method for high resolution in-situ illumination source measurement in projection imaging systems An in-situ apparatus for high resolution imaging in lithographic steppers and scanners (machines) is described. It comprises a multiple field in-situ imaging objective that images the source directly onto the machine reticle or objective plane. The image on the wafe... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7053979 | Process for amelioration of scanning synchronization error Scanning synchronization error in a projection imaging system is controlled by obtaining one or more scanning synchronization error maps comprising a plurality of error components, obtaining one or more focal plane deviation (FPD) error maps comprising a plurality o... | 05/30/2006 |
| 6963390 | In-situ interferometer arrangement An in-situ interferometer includes an image modifying optic that produces light ray bundles. The light ray bundles are projected onto a reticle with a plurality of measurement fiducials encoded onto a face of the reticle. The measurement fiducials are exposed onto a... | 11/08/2005 |
