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:
Apr. 25, 1995
Filed:
Aug. 30, 1991
Michael Ray, Winooski, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of locating a predetermined variation in the surface of a film such as selected depression or elevation on a film deposited on a surface and for measuring the depth of the depression or height of the elevation comprising the steps of establishing a datum plane based on the average level of the surface of the film, scanning the surface of the film with a laser beam until a predetermined variation from said datum plane is located, on the surface of the film, incrementally stepping the laser beam around and across the located variation, measuring the beam reflected at various points along the variation to determine the contour of the variation by establishing the slope of the variation between various measurements, establishing the apex of an elevation or bottom of a depression by determining when the measured slope goes to zero, and measuring the height of the established apex or depth of the established bottom of the depression with respect to the established datum plane of the film.