Kla Tencor Corporation

Kla Corporation

Lightconnect, Inc.

Rajeev Patil

Ilya Bezel

Anant Chimmalgi

Anatoly Shchemelinin

Rudolf C Brunner

Matthew Derstine

Jincheng Wang

Timothy D Stowe

Kenneth P Gross

Eugene Shifrin

Matthew Panzer

Erik Kim

Lim Chow Tian

Asif Aziz Godil

Lauren Wilson

Eric K Gustafson

Yevgeniy Churin

William C Replogle

Younus Vora

Ken Gross

Daniel Scott

Dan Scott

Cedric Lasfargues

Harit Maganlal Gadhia

Jinson Jayan

David Ramirez

Quang Giang

A lifter assembly for an optical system includes a chuck having a chuck base and a detachable top plate, wherein the detachable top plate is one of a plurality of interchangeable detachable top plates configured to support a substrate. The lifter assembly also includes a moveable plate supporting the chuck on an upper surface of the moveable plate, the moveable plate vertically adjustable between a lower, retracted position and an upper, extended position. The lifter assembly further includes a bellows structure operatively coupled to the moveable plate. The lifter assembly yet further includes a pneumatic system fluidly coupled to the bellows structure to selectively expand and contract, wherein expansion of the bellows structure vertically adjusts the moveable plate to the upper, extended position and contraction of the bellows structure vertically adjusts the moveable plate to the lower, retracted position.

Lifter assembly with bellows for optical inspection system

An apparatus for securing a substrate includes a detachable plate configured to reversibly attach to a base of a chuck. The base of the chuck includes one or more base-substrate vacuum inlet channels and one or more base-plate inlet channels. The detachable plate includes one or more first vacuum reservoirs and second vacuum reservoirs. The detachable plate is further configured to establish a fluidic connection between the one or more first vacuum reservoirs and the base-plate inlet channels for forming a first vacuum seal between the detachable plate and the base. The detachable plate further includes one or more pass-through channels for fluidic connection with the one or more second vacuum reservoirs for forming a second vacuum seal between the detachable plate and the substrate.

Quick swap chuck with vacuum holding interchangeable top plate

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for hermetically sealing a nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal for use in a laser system. A mounted NLO crystal, an enclosure base, a lid, and a plurality of window components are moved into an oven. A vacuum bake process is then performed on the mounted NLO crystal, enclosure base, lid, and plurality of window components until a humidity level that is less than a predefined amount is reached. The mounted NLO crystal, enclosure base, lid, and plurality of window components are moved from the oven onto a stage of a glove box that includes a sealing tool. In the glove box, the mounted NLO crystal is hermetically sealed into the enclosure base by sealing the lid and plurality of window components into openings of the enclosure base.

Hermetic sealing of a nonlinear crystal for use in a laser system

A plasma cell for use in a laser-sustained plasma light source includes a plasma bulb configured to contain a gas suitable for generating a plasma. The plasma bulb is transparent to light from a pump laser, wherein the plasma bulb is transparent to at least a portion of a collectable spectral region of illumination emitted by the plasma. The plasma bulb of the plasma cell is configured to filter short wavelength radiation, such as VUV radiation, emitted by the plasma sustained within the bulb in order to keep the short wavelength radiation from impinging on the interior surface of the bulb.

Plasma cell for providing VUV filtering in a laser-sustained plasma light source

An illumination source for igniting and sustaining a plasma in a plasma lamp of a laser-sustained plasma (LSP) broadband source includes one or more ignition lasers configured to ignite the plasma within a gas contained within the plasma lamp. The illumination sources also include one or more sustaining lasers configured to sustain the plasma. The illumination sources include a delivery optical fiber, one or more optical elements configured to selectively optically couple an output of the one or more ignition lasers, and an output of the one or more sustaining lasers to the delivery optical fiber.

System and method for electrodeless plasma ignition in laser-sustained plasma light source

A plasma cell for use in a laser-sustained plasma light source includes a plasma bulb configured to contain a gas suitable for generating a plasma, the plasma bulb being transparent to light from a pump laser, wherein the plasma bulb is transparent to at least a portion of a collectable spectral region of illumination emitted by the plasma. The plasma bulb of the plasma cell is configured to filter short wavelength radiation, such as VUV radiation, emitted by the plasma sustained within the bulb in order to keep the short wavelength radiation from impinging on the interior surface of the bulb.

A fluid input manifold distributes injected fluid around the body of a bulb to cool the bulb below a threshold. The injected fluid also distributes heat more evenly along the surface of the bulb to reduce thermal stress. The fluid input manifold may comprise one or more airfoils to direct a substantially laminar fluid flow along the surface of the bulb or it may comprise a plurality of fluid injection nozzles oriented to produce a substantially laminar fluid flow. An output portion may be configured to facilitate fluid flow along the surface of the bulb by allowing injected fluid to easily escape after absorbing heat from the bulb or by applying negative pressure to actively draw injected fluid along the surface of the bulb and away.

Method and apparatus to reduce thermal stress by regulation and control of lamp operating temperatures

A refillable plasma cell for use in a laser-sustained plasma light source includes a plasma bulb, the bulb being formed from a glass material substantially transparent to a selected wavelength of radiation, and a gas port assembly, the gas port assembly being operably connected to the bulb and disposed at a first portion of the gas bulb, wherein the bulb is configured to selectively receive a gas from a gas source via the gas port assembly.

Plasma cell for laser-sustained plasma light source

A simple and robust heat actuated steering device for use with mirrors and other optical components of optical telecommunications equipment is described, together with systems which implement such devices. The device uses differential heating between two legs of a flexured mount to allow tilting that can be used to steer an optical beam. Disturbances in the optical alignment, caused by temperature changes, of an optical device containing this component can be compensated by measuring the device temperature and using this to determine a command signal, for example as provided through a lookup table, to correct for device misalignment. Techniques for calibrating the device and establishing the correction data are also disclosed.

Heat actuated steering mount for maintaining frequency alignment in wavelength selective components for optical telecommunications

Growing community of inventors

Fremont, CA, United States of America

Rajeev Patil