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:
Mar. 23, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1997
Linda Milor, Stanford, CA (US);
Yeng-Kaung Peng, Los Altos, CA (US);
Khoi Anh Phan, San Jose, CA (US);
David Steele, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Defects in integrated circuit wafers (10) are often difficult to diagnose, because patterned wafer inspections can only be done after certain wafer processing steps. Defect simulation is used to understand the relation between defects in the wafer (10) and the resulting wafer profiles. Defects such as particles (50) and bubbles (22) in the photoresist (28), for example, translate into a wide variety of defective profiles. Knowledge of the relation between defects and the defect profiles can assist in yield improvement efforts, since defects may be diagnosed by comparing simulated and observed defect profiles. From the simulated defect profiles, methods can be adapted to fix or correct observed defects.