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:
Oct. 19, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 28, 1997
Wayne Isami Imaino, San Jose, CA (US);
Anthony Juliana, Jr, San Jose, CA (US);
Milton Russell Latta, San Jose, CA (US);
Charles H Lee, San Jose, CA (US);
Wai Cheung Leung, San Jose, CA (US);
Hal J Rosen, Los Gatos, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A laser based inspection tool (LIT) for inspecting planar surfaces is described. In a preferred embodiment the LIT can simultaneously inspect both planar surfaces of disks for use in disk drives. In one embodiment of the invention, a disk is moved into an inspection subcompartment between a pair of air knives which blow partially ionized air onto the planar sides of the disk to remove loose particles adhering thereto. After the disk moves through the air knife streams, the two laser beams scan the two sides of the disk. Preferably the scan occurs after the air knives have been turned off and as the disk moves out of the inspection subcompartment. The subcompartment may optionally have an air source which forces air to flow out of the subcompartment to aid in maintaining a clean environment for inspection.