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:
Mar. 14, 2006
Filed:
Oct. 06, 2000
Reginald Hunter, Round Rock, TX (US);
Reginald Hunter, Round Rock, TX (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generally provides an apparatus and a method for inspecting a substrate in a processing system. In one embodiment, a substrate process inspection system comprises a plurality of optical inspection systems each configured to perform an optical inspection process at a first degree of optical resolution and an inspection platform configured to perform an optical inspection process at a second degree of optical resolution. The plurality of optical inspection systems each comprises a transmitter unit and a receiver unit. The substrate process inspection system further comprises a controller system connected to the plurality of optical inspection systems and the inspection platform. The controller system is configured to (i) process optical signal information indicative of a topographical condition on a substrate inspected by at least one of the plurality of optical inspection systems and (ii) in response to the topographical condition, cause execution of one of a plurality of subsequent substrate handling steps. In one embodiment, a first substrate handling step comprises transferring the substrate to the inspection platform for further optical inspection.