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. 27, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 04, 1998
Khanh B. Nguyen, San Mateo, CA (US);
Harry Levinson, Saratoga, CA (US);
Richard D. Edwards, Austin, TX (US);
Stuart Brown, Austin, TX (US);
Paul W. Ackmann, Buda, TX (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An alignment mark protection structure (,) is disclosed which is used to ensure an integrity of an alignment scheme for a substrate (,) which is to be subjected to lithographic processing. The alignment mark protection structure (,) comprises the substrate (,) and an alignment mark (,) associated with the substrate (,). The alignment mark (,) reflects an alignment light (,) which is then used to determine an optimum alignment between the substrate (,) and a lithographic mask (,). A cap (,) overlies the alignment mark (,) and is substantially transparent with respect to the alignment light (,). The cap (,) protects the underlying alignment mark (,) from lithographic process-induced damage during processing and thus reduces alignment light noise, thereby improving the alignment between a mask (,) and the substrate (,) and minimizing the registration error associated with overlying layers formed on the substrate (,).