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. 07, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 10, 1998
Thomas A Germer, Gaithersburg, MD (US);
Clara C Asmail, Gaithersburg, MD (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A microroughness-blind optical scanner focuses p-polarized light onto the rface of a sample. Scattered light is collected through independently rotatable polarizers by one or more collection systems uniformly distributed over a hemispherical shell centered over the sample. The polarizer associated with each collection system is rotated to cancel the corresponding Jones vector thereby preventing detection of microroughness-scattered light, yielding higher sensitivity to particulate defects. The sample is supported on a positioning system permitting the beam to be scanned over the sample surface of interest.