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. 18, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 21, 2001
Bryan Kevin Clark, Mountain View, CA (US);
Z Tek Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A system of beam narrowing for resolution enhancement produces a narrowed beam for use in surface imaging. The system of beam narrowing for resolution enhancement uses a Fabry-Perot cavity to sharpen the intensity profile of a light source imaged through the system. The optical distance between reflective surfaces forming the Fabry-Perot cavity is tuned to select one of the surfaces as a target surface. The beam width is thereby optimized to a minimum width at the selected target surface. Multiple Fabry-Perot cavities can be cascaded by interposing one or more additional partly reflective surfaces between a first surface and a second underlying surface. The optical distances between all of the surfaces are tuned to select a target surface. The beam width is optimized at the selected target surface to produce a beam narrower than the beam produced by a single Fabry-Perot cavity.