The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 11, 2018
Filed:
May. 20, 2016
Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Wen-Li Wu, Hsinchu, TW;
Yun-San Chien, Kaohsiung, TW;
Wei-En Fu, Taoyuan, TW;
Shyh-Shin Ferng, Hsinchu, TW;
Yi-Hung Lin, Hsinchu, TW;
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Hsinchu, TW;
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
This application relates to an apparatus and methods for enhancing the performance of X-ray reflectometry (XRR) when used in characterizing thin films and nanostructures supported on a flat substrate. In particular, this application is targeted for addressing the difficulties encountered when XRR is applied to samples with very limited sampling volume, i.e. a combination of small sampling area and miniscule sample thickness or structure height. Point focused X-ray with long wavelength, greater than that from a copper anode or 0.154 nm, is preferably used with appropriately controlled collimations on both incident and detection arms to enable the XRR measurements of samples with limited volumes.