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. 29, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 23, 2003
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An electron beam applied from an electron gun and reflected off a surface of a specimen placed on a stage that is tilted at a tilt angle &phgr;=0 is detected, and a signal intensity thereof is measured by an electron detector . Based upon the measurement, an image processing unit calculates a slope angle &thgr; of the surface of the specimen, and determines candidates for cross-sectional shape of the specimen. Signal intensity of the electromagnetic wave that would be reflected from a surface having a cross-sectional shape of each of the candidates if the tilt angle &phgr; were changed into &phgr;=&phgr; are estimated, and compared with a signal intensity actually measured by the electron detector with the tilt angle 100 being changed into &phgr;=&phgr; . Consequently, cross sectional shape and three-dimensional shape can be determined based upon a result of comparison, without utilizing a matching process of feature points.