Kla Tencor Corporation

Prometrix Corporation

Younus Vora

Andrew V Hill

Ilya Bezel

Matthew Derstine

Kenneth P Gross

Anant Chimmalgi

Rudolf C Brunner

Lauren Wilson

Rajeev Patil

Chris Maher

Harish P Hiriyannaiah

Jincheng Wang

Daniel Scott

Timothy R Corle

Ken Gross

Erik Kim

Dan Scott

Cedric Lasfargues

Quang Giang

Verlyn Fischer

Ping Ding

Kamran Sarmadi

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

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for performing inspection or metrology of a semiconductor device. The apparatus includes a plurality of laser diode arrays that are configurable to provide an incident beam having different wavelength ranges. At least some of the laser diode arrays form two dimensional stacks that have different wavelength ranges from each other. The apparatus also includes optics for directing the incident beam towards the sample, a detector for generating an output signal or image based on an output beam emanating from the sample in response to the incident beam, and optics for directing the output beam towards the detector. The apparatus further includes a controller for configuring the laser diode arrays to provide the incident beam at the different wavelength ranges and detecting defects or characterizing a feature of the sample based on the output signal or image.

Diode laser based broad band light sources for wafer inspection tools

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for performing inspection or metrology of a semiconductor device. The apparatus includes a plurality of laser diode arrays that are configurable to provide an incident beam having different wavelength ranges. The apparatus also includes optics for directing the incident beam towards the sample, a detector for generating an output signal or image based on an output beam emanating from the sample in response to the incident beam, and optics for directing the output beam towards the detector. The apparatus further includes a controller for configuring the laser diode arrays to provide the incident beam at the different wavelength ranges and detecting defects or characterizing a feature of the sample based on the output signal or image.

Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and systems for identifying one or more optical modes of an inspection system as candidates for use in inspection of a layer of a wafer are provided. One method includes determining one or more characteristics of images of the layer of the wafer acquired using the inspection system and different optical modes available on the inspection system. The method also includes identifying a first portion of the different optical modes as not candidates for use in the inspection of the layer of the wafer based on the one or more characteristics of the images. In addition, the method includes generating output by eliminating the first portion of the different optical modes from the different optical modes at which the images were acquired such that the output includes a second portion of the different optical modes indicated as the candidates for use in the inspection.

Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and systems for identifying one or more optical modes of an inspection system as candidates for use in inspection of a layer of a wafer

A method and apparatus for imaging a substrate (such as silicon or silicon dioxide) beneath and between a dense array of strips (such as photoresist strips composed of dielectric or other material) using a polarizing optical microscope. In preferred embodiments, the apparatus of the invention includes a polarizer for polarizing optical illuminating radiation, an analyzer for receiving polarized radiation reflected from the sample, and a variable retarder whose retardation characteristic can be controlled to enhance the light signal transmitted through the analyzer from the substrate in a region of interest of the sample. The variable retarder can be a fixedly mounted retarder whose birefringence is variable in response to a control signal, or a rotatably mounted retarder plate having fixed birefringence which is mechanically rotatable to control the orientation of its optical axis. In one embodiment, the retarder is a quarter wave plate, the projection on the sample of the polarization axis of linearly polarized radiation from the polarizer forms an angle of about 45 degrees to the sample's strips, and the optical axis of the quarter wave plate is oriented at an optimal angle to the strips, so that the quarter wave plate converts the linearly polarized illuminating radiation into elliptically polarized radiation, the elliptically polarized radiation undergoes a polarization change upon reflection from the sample, and the quarter wave plate converts the reflected elliptically polarized radiation from the sample into radiation whose polarization is oriented so that it can be transmitted by the analyzer.

Method and apparatus for imaging dense linewidth features using an

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Younus Vora