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:
Dec. 18, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 29, 1999
Yoshinori Marumo, Chino, JP;
Teruyuki Hayashi, Kofu, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A film thickness measuring apparatus is provided with a housing which is made up of a base plate and outer cases, and which substantially shuts off the internal region thereof from the outside air, an introduction stage on which a cassette C is mounted, the cassette containing a plurality of substrates which have thin films formed thereon, a measurement stage which is arranged inside the housing and on which the substrate is placed for measuring the film thickness of the thin film, and a conveyance mechanism, arranged inside the housing, for moving the substrates between the inside of the cassette and the measurement stage. A film thickness measuring mechanism is arranged inside the housing. The film thickness measuring mechanism comprises a light emitting mechanism and a detector. The light emitting mechanism includes a laser light source for emitting a laser beam to the thin film on a wafer placed on the measurement stage. The detector detects light reflected from the thin film. On the basis of the information detected by the detector, the film thickness measuring mechanism measures the thickness of the thin film in a non-contact manner. A filter unit is arranged in the housing and located above the measurement stage. Through this filter unit, pure air free of gaseous organic matter is supplied and guided to the region above the measurement stage.