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:
Feb. 04, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 04, 2001
Applicant:
Inventor:
Masato Kijima, Kakogawa, JP;
Assignee:
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 2/100 ; H05H 1/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 2/100 ; H05H 1/00 ;
Abstract
A method and system for determining a dry etching endpoint, at which a dry etching process should be terminated. The dry etching process is carried out in a plasma etching system and comprises the steps of detecting an intensity of light emission generated in the dry etching process, the light emission being extracted through a window located on a side wall portion of a reaction chamber below a horizontal plane which is defined by a surface of a body to be etch treated. The detected intensity is compared to a predetermined threshold level.