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:
Jul. 23, 2019
Filed:
Apr. 24, 2017
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Alexander Bykanov, Escondido, CA (US);
Nikolay Artemiev, Berkeley, CA (US);
Joseph A. Di Regolo, Livermore, CA (US);
John Wade Viatella, Pleasant Hill, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for reducing the effect of finite source size on illumination beam spot size for Transmission, Small-Angle X-ray Scatterometry (T-SAXS) measurements are described herein. A beam shaping slit having a slender profile is located in close proximity to the specimen under measurement and does not interfere with wafer stage components over the full range of angles of beam incidence. In one embodiment, four independently actuated beam shaping slits are employed to effectively block a portion of an incoming x-ray beam and generate an output beam having a box shaped illumination cross-section. In one aspect, each of the beam shaping slits is located at a different distance from the specimen in a direction aligned with the beam axis. In another aspect, the beam shaping slits are configured to rotate about the beam axis in coordination with the orientation of the specimen.