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:
Jul. 03, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 27, 1998
Matthew J. Banet, Boston, MA (US);
Martin Fuchs, Uxbridge, MA (US);
John A. Rogers, Castle Rock, CO (US);
Active Impulse Systems, Inc., Natick, MA (US);
Abstract
A method for measuring a structure that contains overlying and underlying films in a region where the overlying film's thickness rapidly decreases until the underlying film is exposed (e.g., an edge-exclusion structure). The method includes the steps of: (,) exciting acoustic modes in a first portion of the region with at least one excitation laser beam; (,) detecting the acoustic modes with a probe laser beam that is either reflected or diffracted to generate a signal beam; (,) analyzing the signal beam to determine a property of the structure (e.g., the thickness of the overlying layer) in the first portion of the region; (,) translating the structure or the excitation and probe laser beams; and (,) repeating the exciting, detecting, and analyzing steps to determine a property of the structure in a second portion of the region.