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:
May. 04, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 04, 2001
Mindaugas Fernand Dautartas, Blacksburg, VA (US);
George John Przybylek, Douglasville, PA (US);
Agere Systems Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
A method of measuring the thickness of ultra-thin (e.g., <200 Å) oxide formed on a semiconductor device uses a reference sample (i.e., another silicon wafer) which has been pre-processed to include a relatively thick oxide surface layer. The thickness of the reference oxide (t) is measured using any conventional technique (such as an ellipsometer). An ultra-thin oxide is then simultaneously formed on both the reference sample and semiconductor device. The total oxide thickness (T) of the dual-layer structure on the reference sample is then measured (again, using any conventional technique), and the difference between the two measured values (T−t=&dgr;) is defined as the thickness of the ultra-thin oxide layer.