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:
May. 17, 1994
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1992
Anthony Sayka, San Antonio, TX (US);
Allen Page, San Antonio, TX (US);
VLSI Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for monitoring the fluid spray pattern of fluid sprayed by a nozzle onto a semiconductor wafer during processing of the wafer. A light source is positioned to illuminate the fluid sprayed in a pattern P from the nozzle, and one or more photodetectors are positioned to receive light scattered by the fluid spray. Each photodetector develops an electrical signal in response to receipt of the scattered light, and these electrical signals are received and analyzed by a comparison means. One or more reference signals representing a desired fluid spray pattern P.sub.0 is stored in the comparison means, and each electrical signal for the pattern P is compared with the corresponding reference signal for the pattern P.sub.0 by the comparison means. If one or more signal for the pattern P differs substantially from the corresponding reference signal for the desired pattern P.sub.0, an alarm may be generated and/or delivery of fluid by the nozzle may be terminated.