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:
Sep. 22, 2026
Filed:
Apr. 19, 2023
Kla Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
John Hench, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Akshay Krishna, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Christopher Liman, San Jose, CA (US);
Jeremy Smith, San Mateo, CA (US);
Liang Yin, Fremont, CA (US);
Hyowon Park, Milpitas, CA (US);
Tianhan Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
Boxue Chen, San Jose, CA (US);
KLA Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for performing model-less measurements of semiconductor structures based on scatterometry measurement data are described herein. Scatterometry measurement data is processed directly, without the use of a traditional measurement model. Measurement sensitivity is defined by the changes in detected diffraction images at one or more non-zero diffraction orders over at least two different illumination incidence angles. Discrete values of a scalar function are determined directly from measured images at each incidence angle. A continuous mathematical function is fit to the set of discrete values of the scalar function determined at each incidence angle. A value of a parameter of interest is determined based on analysis of the mathematical function. In some embodiments, the scalar function includes a weighting function, and the weighting values associated with weighting function are optimized to yield an accurate fit of the mathematical function to the scalar values.