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.

Date of Patent:
Aug. 01, 1978

Filed:

Sep. 09, 1977
Applicant:
Inventors:

William R Wheeler, Saratoga, CA (US);

George J Kren, Los Altos, CA (US);

Karel Urbanek, Atherton, CA (US);

Assignee:

Tencor Instruments, Mountain View, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
73105 ;
Abstract

A surface profile measuring instrument, which has a stylus supported on a counterbalanced scanner arm, in turn supported in a gimbal mounting having two axes, one of which is adjustable by a servo. A connected electronics package provides axis compensation for levelling through the servo, as well as zero adjustment of a display device and discrimination against small, unwanted slops. Stylus motion is translated into an analog signal by a linear position differential transformer. To achieve slope discrimination, the analog signal is differentiated and compared in a comparator to a reference for rejection of signals corresponding to small slopes. The signal is then integrated and displayed, with reference to a selected zero of a display device.


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