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.

Date of Patent:
Apr. 01, 2003

Filed:

Aug. 15, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:

Lee H. Veneklasen, Castro Valley, CA (US);

Assignee:

Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 2/300 ; G21K 7/00 ; H01L 2/358 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 2/300 ; G21K 7/00 ; H01L 2/358 ;
Abstract

A plurality of features are first formed on a workpiece in a special standard test pattern, and these features are then overwritten with a charged particle beam in an overlay pattern which matches the standard pattern such that the overlay regions overlap edges of the features in the standard pattern. A backscatter signal is generated by the interaction of the special standard patterns on the workpiece and the overwriting particle beam, and this signal is analyzed to identify and diagnose errors caused by the charged particle beam tool. The standard pattern may be formed using the same tool in its fully qualified state, and subsequent overlay tests may be conducted to identify changes in the state of that same tool.


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