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:
Jan. 29, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 04, 1999
Applicant:
Inventor:
Donato Casati, Merate, IT;
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 3/00 ; G01N 3/08 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 3/00 ; G01N 3/08 ;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for estimating the degree of cleanliness of a substrate surface, particularly an inorganic surface used in the manufacturing of electronic components. A soft metal, eg., indium, probe is pressed against the substrate surface to be tested and then withdrawn. A tensile force, caused by the surface energies of the two materials, opposes the separation. If the inorganic surface is contaminated by any organic material, this force will be greatly affected. The tensile force is measured with a load cell and the displacement from the expected value will indicate the degree of contamination of the substrate surface.