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:
Nov. 13, 2001
Filed:
May. 30, 2000
Khoi A. Phan, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher F. Lyons, Fremont, CA (US);
Khanh B. Nguyen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Jeff Schefske, San Jose, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
There is provided a method for enhancing the contrast between oxide film and ultra-thin resists in deep-ultraviolet lithography for use with a wafer defect inspection system in order to maximize defect inspection sensitivity. This is achieved by varying the thickness of the oxide film for a given ultra-thin resist thickness so as to produce a high contrast. As a result, defect inspection of the ultra-thin resist pattern is easily obtained. In a second embodiment, the ultra-thin resist thickness is varied for a given oxide film thickness. In a third embodiment, both the oxide film and the ultra-thin resist thicknesses are varied simultaneously so as to obtain an optimum contrast.