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:
Jun. 01, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 19, 2002
Po-Tao Chu, Tainan, TW;
Hsin-Yuan Chen, Tainan, TW;
Chung-Jen Chen, Tainan, TW;
Tai-Ming Yang, Tainan, TW;
Cheng-Ming Wu, Tainan, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd, Hsin Chu, TW;
Abstract
Removing photoresist from alignment marks on a semiconductor wafer using a wafer edge exposure process is disclosed. The alignment marks on the wafer are covered by photoresist used in conjunction with semiconductor processing of one or more layers deposited on the semiconductor wafer. One or more parts of the edge of the wafer are exposed to remove the photoresist from these parts and thus reveal alignment marks on the wafer. The exposure of the one or more parts of the wafer is accomplished without performing a photolithographic clear out process. Rather, a wafer edge exposure (WEE) process is inventively utilized. Once the WEE process is performed, subsequent layers may be deposited by aligning them using the revealed alignment marks.