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:
Jun. 27, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 07, 1998
Noah Bareket, Saratoga, CA (US);
KLA Instruments Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a method and apparatus that uses a microscopic height variation positioned relative to a semiconductor device to scan a target on the device to produce an electrical signal representative of height variations of first and second periodic structures of the target in a selected path across the device, and a computing and control system to provide translation between the microscopic height variation detector and the target on the device in a selected path, and to calculate any offset between the first periodic structure and the second periodic structure of the target from the electrical signals from the microscopic height variation detector. The first periodic structure of the target is on a first layer of the device, and the second periodic structure, that complements the first periodic structure, is on a second layer of the device at a location that is adjacent the first periodic structure.