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:
Apr. 11, 2006
Filed:
Oct. 06, 2003
Stan Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
David Alles, Los Altos, CA (US);
Stan Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
David Alles, Los Altos, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corp., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for inspecting a reticle are provided. A method may include forming an aerial image of the reticle with an inspection system at a wavelength different from a wavelength of an exposure system. The method may also include correcting the aerial image for differences between modulation transfer functions (MTF) of the inspection system and the exposure system. In this manner, the corrected aerial image may be substantially equivalent to an image of the reticle that would be printed onto a specimen by the exposure system at the wavelength of the exposure system. In addition, the method may include detecting defects on the reticle using the corrected aerial image. The detected defects may include approximately all of the defects that would be printed onto a specimen by the exposure system using the reticle.