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. 16, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 06, 1998
Bhanwar Singh, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Bharath Rangarajan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Khoi Anh Phan, San Jose, CA (US);
Carmen L Morales, San Jose, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A focus monitor structure is placed on a reticle or mask near the production device structures, such as integrated circuits, to monitor the focal conditions of the lithography process as well as other parameters, such as the critical dimension, and proximity effects. The focus monitor structure includes a series of densely packed parallel lines and an isolated line along with a line that is positioned orthogonally to the densely packed lines forming an 'L' shaped structure. The focus monitor structure also includes a plurality of rectangular islands that create post structures when patterned in the resist layer. The lines of the focus monitor structure are approximately the critical dimension and the rectangular islands vary in width between .+-.10% of the critical dimension. By manually or automatically inspecting the focus monitor structure after it is patterned into a layer of resist, including measuring the width of the resist lines and the resist profile angle of the orthogonal line, information relating to the critical dimension as well as the focal conditions of the lithography process can be determined.