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. 04, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1997
Peter R Solomon, West Hartford, CT (US);
Peter A Rosenthal, West Simsbury, CT (US);
On-Line Technologies, Inc, , US;
Abstract
A fast and practical method for the analysis of patterned samples of semiconductor integrated circuits, and other materials, determines the thickness and composition of layers fabricated during manufacture. The method employs a measurement spot that is sufficiently large to irradiate areas of two or more different regions of the sample that result from its patterned features, generally at replicable locations. In carrying out the method, one or more of reflectance, transmittance, and radiance spectrance is measured, and the various parameters characterizing the thickness and composition in the patterned areas are obtained using, for example, a model-based analysis of the polarization and amplitude of the emanating radiation, the model parameters being iteratively adjusted to achieve a match with measured values. The method can be made fast and practical by using measurements that are taken both before and also after treatment steps are effected, and/or by using measurements from the same location on designated samples undergoing the same process, to reduce the number of unknown parameters in a reference model.