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:
Nov. 24, 1992

Filed:

Apr. 29, 1991
Applicant:
Inventors:

Charles W Schietinger, Portland, OR (US);

Bruce E Adams, Portland, OR (US);

Assignee:

Luxtron Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
437-7 ; 437-8 ; 437173 ; 374-7 ; 374120 ; 374121 ;
Abstract

The thickness of a thin film on a substrate surface is determined by measuring its emissivity and temperature with a non-contact optical technique and then calculating the film thickness from these measurements. The thickness of the film can be determined by this technique in situ, while it is being formed and substantially in real time, thus allowing the measurement to control the film forming process. This has application to controlling the formation of dielectric and other material layers on a semiconductor substrate in the course of manufacturing electornic integrate circuits, including automatically terminating the process at its endpoint when the layer has reached a desired thickness.


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