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:
Feb. 04, 2020
Filed:
Jan. 30, 2017
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Kurt L. Haller, Pleasanton, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for detecting a particle defect on a wafer surface, transforming the particle to a spectroscopically active state, and identifying a material composition of the activated particle by a spectroscopic technique are described herein. Particle defects are transformed by chemical treatment, thermal treatment, photochemical treatment, or a combination thereof, such that an activated particle exhibits atomic vibrational bands that can be observed spectroscopically. In one embodiment, a surface inspection system detects the presence of a particle defect on a wafer surface, activates observable Raman bands in one or more of the detected particles, and identifies the material composition of the activated particle by a spectroscopic technique. By performing both defect detection and composition analysis on the same inspection tool, it is not necessary to transfer a wafer to a different review tool, or combination of tools, to perform composition analysis of particle defects deposited on semiconductor wafers.