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:
Feb. 21, 1995
Filed:
Oct. 19, 1993
Applicant:
Inventors:
Masaaki Imaizumi, Tokyo, JP;
Eiji Nishimori, Tokyo, JP;
Yasuteru Ichida, Machida, JP;
Naoki Ayata, Machida, JP;
Assignee:
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06K / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
382-8 ; 382 14 ; 395 61 ;
Abstract
A mark position detecting method and apparatus, suitably usable in a semiconductor device manufacturing exposure apparatus, called a stepper, prints images of a pattern of a reticle upon different shot areas on a semiconductor wafer, and aligns the reticle and the wafer. In this method, fuzzy reasoning is made by using, for example, a membership function which empirically represents the relationship between a mark signal and an alignment result. By using a conclusion of the fuzzy reasoning, the position of the mark is detected. Thus, the alignment accuracy can be improved significantly.