Applied Materials, Inc.

Glen Alan Gomes

Zheng Gu

Meenaradchagan Vishnu

Zhongchuan Zhang

Diana Valverde-Paniagua

Rendong Lin

Embodiments of the systems and methods discussed herein autofocus an imaging apparatus by pre-processing image data received via channels of the imaging system that include laser beams and sensors configured to receive image data when laser beams are applied across a substrate in a pixel-wise application across a substrate. The substrate can include both a photoresist and metallic material, and the images as-received by the sensors include noise from the metallic material. During pre-processing of the image data, a percentage of noise to remove from the image data is determined, and the image data is filtered. A centroid of the substrate is calculated for each channel and a focus deviation for the exposure is determined. The centroids can be combined using one or more filtering mechanisms, and the imaging system can be autofocused in an exposure position by moving the stage and/or the exposure source in one or more directions.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Glen Alan Gomes