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:
Jul. 15, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 23, 2001
Albert Visscher, Veldhoven, NL;
FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Abstract
Objects such as semiconductor wafers to be studied in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) are subject to vibrations which are intensified by vibration resonance of the (thin) wafer, so that the resolution of the SEM is severely degraded. In prior art it is known to support the wafer by means of elastic support members. However, such support members do not counteract the detrimental vibrations. According to the invention there are provided elastic support elements that can accommodate to the inevitable shape errors of the wafer and hence remain in contact with the wafer surface Moreover, the support elements are embodied in such a manner that frictional contact exists between the moving part of the support element and the body of the object carrier The support elements thus provide support which is elastic for macroscopic support but hard for the vibrational movements in the nanometer range, thus inhibiting such vibrational movements.