Method and apparatus for non-contact measurement of internal quantum efficiency in light emitting diode structures
Granted: November 21, 2017
Patent Number:
9823198
Non-contact measurement of one or more electrical response characteristics of a LED structure includes illuminating an illumination area of a surface of a light emitting diode structure with one or more light pulses, measuring a transient of a luminescence signal from a luminescence area within the illumination area of the light emitting diode structure with a luminescence sensor, determining a first luminescence intensity at a first time of the measured transient of the luminescence…
Method and system for measuring radiation and temperature exposure of wafers along a fabrication process line
Granted: November 21, 2017
Patent Number:
9823121
A measurement wafer device for measuring radiation intensity and temperature includes a wafer assembly including one or more cavities. The measurement wafer device further includes a detector assembly. The detector assembly is disposed within the one or more cavities of the wafer assembly. The detector assembly includes one or more light sensors. The detector assembly is further configured to perform a direct or indirect measurement of the intensity of ultraviolet light incident on a…
Back-illuminated sensor with boron layer
Granted: November 14, 2017
Patent Number:
9818887
An inspection system including an optical system (optics) to direct light from an illumination source to a sample, and to direct light reflected/scattered from the sample to one or more image sensors. At least one image sensor of the system is formed on a semiconductor membrane including an epitaxial layer having opposing surfaces, with circuit elements formed on one surface of the epitaxial layer, and a pure boron layer on the other surface of the epitaxial layer. The image sensor may…
Wafer inspection with focus volumetric method
Granted: November 14, 2017
Patent Number:
9816940
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for detecting defects in a semiconductor sample. An inspection tool is used to collect intensity data sets at a plurality of focus settings from each of a plurality of xy positions of the sample. A polynomial equation having a plurality of coefficients is extracted for each of the xy position's collected intensity data sets as a function of focus setting. Each of the coefficients' set of values for the plurality of xy positions is represented with a…
Virtual inspection systems with multiple modes
Granted: November 14, 2017
Patent Number:
9816939
Methods and systems for determining one or more characteristics for defects detected on a specimen are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for identifying a first defect that was detected on a specimen by an inspection system with a first mode but was not detected with one or more other modes. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for acquiring, from the storage medium, one or more images generated with the one or more other modes at a…
Measurement of multiple patterning parameters
Granted: November 14, 2017
Patent Number:
9816810
Methods and systems for evaluating the performance of multiple patterning processes are presented. Patterned structures are measured and one or more parameter values characterizing geometric errors induced by the multiple patterning process are determined. In some examples, a single patterned target and a multiple patterned target are measured, the collected data fit to a combined measurement model, and the value of a structural parameter indicative of a geometric error induced by the…
System and method for cleaning EUV optical elements
Granted: November 7, 2017
Patent Number:
9810991
A system for cleaning or suppressing contamination or oxidation in a EUV optical setting includes an illumination source, a detector, a first set of optical elements to direct light from the illumination source to a specimen and a second set of optical elements to receive illumination from the specimen and direct the illumination to the detector. The system also includes one or more vacuum chambers for containing the first and second set of optical elements and containing a selected…
Multi-layered target design
Granted: November 7, 2017
Patent Number:
9810620
Multi-layered targets, design files and design and production methods thereof are provided. The multi-layered targets comprise process layers arranged to have parallel segmentation features at specified regions, and target layer comprising target elements which are perpendicular to the parallel segmentation features of the process layers at the specified regions.
Method and system for simultaneous tilt and height control of a substrate surface in an inspection system
Granted: November 7, 2017
Patent Number:
9810619
A system for substrate tilt and focus control in an inspection system includes a dynamically actuatable substrate stage assembly including a substrate stage for securing a substrate; a tilt-height detection system including: a height detection sub-system and a tilt detection sub-system. The system further includes a first actuator configured to selectably actuate the substrate along a direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate at a location of the substrate stage assembly;…
Automated SEM nanoprobe tool
Granted: October 31, 2017
Patent Number:
9805910
Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus comprising a primary beam column configured to direct a primary beam of energetic particles onto a location of interest on a sample containing one or more integrated circuit structures, a detector configured to produce a signal in response to detection of secondary charged particles generated as a result of an interaction between the primary beam of energetic particles and the location of interest, and a signal processor coupled to…
Machine learning method and apparatus for inspecting reticles
Granted: October 31, 2017
Patent Number:
9805462
Apparatus and methods for inspecting a specimen are disclosed. An inspection tool is used at one or more operating modes to obtain images of a plurality of training regions of a specimen, and the training regions are identified as defect-free. Three or more basis training images are derived from the images of the training regions. A classifier is formed based on the three or more basis training images. The inspection system is used at the one or more operating modes to obtain images of a…
Reducing extrinsic stress in thin film optical mirrors and filters for deep ultraviolet
Granted: October 31, 2017
Patent Number:
9804309
A multilayer coating has a substrate, an optical layer, and a buffer layer between the substrate and the optical layer. The buffer layer has a coefficient of thermal expansion between that of the substrate and the optical layer. The multilayer coating has properties that enable its use in deep ultraviolet (DUV) wavelengths, such as for a multilayer mirror or edge filter. This multilayer coating with a buffer layer provides improved thermal stability and lifetime.
System and method for reducing the bandwidth of a laser and an inspection system and method using a laser
Granted: October 31, 2017
Patent Number:
9804101
A DUV laser includes an optical bandwidth filtering device, such as etalon, which is disposed outside of the laser oscillator cavity of the fundamental laser, and which directs one range of wavelengths into one portion of a frequency conversion chain and another range of wavelengths into another portion of the frequency conversion train, thereby reducing the bandwidth of the DUV laser output while maintaining high conversion efficiency in the frequency conversion chain.
Semiconductor inspection and metrology system using laser pulse multiplier
Granted: October 17, 2017
Patent Number:
9793673
A pulse multiplier includes a polarizing beam splitter, a wave plate, and a set of mirrors. The polarizing beam splitter receives an input laser pulse. The wave plate receives light from the polarized beam splitter and generates a first set of pulses and a second set of pulses. The first set of pulses has a different polarization than the second set of pulses. The polarizing beam splitter, the wave plate, and the set of mirrors create a ring cavity. The polarizing beam splitter transmits…
Electron emitter device with integrated multi-pole electrode structure
Granted: October 17, 2017
Patent Number:
9793089
A field emission device comprises one or more emitter elements, each having a high aspect ratio structure with a nanometer scaled cross section; and one or more segmented electrodes, each surrounding one of the one or more emitters. Each of the one or more segmented electrodes has multiple electrode plates. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It…
Apodization for pupil imaging scatterometry
Granted: October 10, 2017
Patent Number:
9784987
The disclosure is directed to various apodization schemes for pupil imaging scatterometry. In some embodiments, the system includes an apodizer disposed within a pupil plane of the illumination path. In some embodiments, the system further includes an illumination scanner configured to scan a surface of the sample with at least a portion of apodized illumination. In some embodiments, the system includes an apodized pupil configured to provide a quadrupole illumination function. In some…
Apparatus, techniques, and target designs for measuring semiconductor parameters
Granted: October 10, 2017
Patent Number:
9784690
In one embodiment, apparatus and methods for determining a parameter of a target are disclosed. A target having an imaging structure and a scatterometry structure is provided. An image of the imaging structure is obtained with an imaging channel of a metrology tool. A scatterometry signal is also obtained from the scatterometry structure with a scatterometry channel of the metrology tool. At least one parameter, such as overlay error, of the target is determined based on both the image…
Flipping apparatus, system and method for processing articles
Granted: October 10, 2017
Patent Number:
9783372
A flipping apparatus, a system for processing articles comprising a said flipping apparatus, and a method for processing articles are provided. An article is picked by a first flipping arm. The first flipping arm rotates from a pick position into a pass position, at which the article is passed to a second flipping arm, which is in a receive position. The second flipping arm rotates from the receive position to a place position and places the article. By the passing of the article from…
Object carrier, system and method for back light inspection
Granted: October 3, 2017
Patent Number:
9778192
An object carrier, a system and a method is disclosed for the back light inspection of transparent or semitransparent objects. The carrier has a carrier base layer with photo luminescent properties which carries the transparent or semitransparent object on top of the layer. The transparent or semitransparent object could be a wafer and the object carrier could be a wafer chuck. At least one light source being arranged above the object carrier such that excitation light emitted from the…
Integrated multi-pass inspection
Granted: October 3, 2017
Patent Number:
9778207
Methods and systems for integrated multi-pass reticle inspection are provided. One method for inspecting a reticle includes acquiring at least first, second, and third images for the reticle. The first image is a substantially high resolution image of light transmitted by the reticle. The second image is a substantially high resolution image of light reflected from the reticle. The third image is an image of light transmitted by the reticle that is acquired with a substantially low…
