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:
Jan. 20, 2026
Filed:
Mar. 26, 2024
Kla Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Shlomo Eisenbach, Kfar Pines, IL;
Yoav Grauer, Haifa, IL;
Motti Penia, Migdal Ha'emek, IL;
Andrew V. Hill, Sunriver, OR (US);
Avner Safrani, Misgav, IL;
Arkady Simkin, Migdal Ha'emek, IL;
KLA Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
An illumination system for dark-field imaging may include one or more illumination sources providing temporally incoherent light with a first spatial profile, and two or more lens assemblies configured to direct the light from the one or more illumination sources as two or more illumination beams to a buried target along optical paths outside an objective lens of an imaging sub-system. The two or more illumination beams may fully overlap at the buried target to provide a common illumination field. The lens assemblies limit numerical apertures of the illumination beams to prevent specular reflection of the illumination beams from entering the objective lens. A respective one of the two or more lens assemblies includes a homogenizer to provide that a respective one of the two or more illumination beams has a second spatial profile with higher spatial uniformity than the first spatial profile according to a selected metric.