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. 16, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 19, 2002
Aditya Dayal, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David S. Alles, Los Altos, CA (US);
George Q. Chen, Fremont, CA (US);
Aditya Dayal, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David S. Alles, Los Altos, CA (US);
George Q. Chen, Fremont, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention discloses methods of conducting surface inspections using summed light. One method includes the steps of measuring summed light intensity values for the substrate, generating comparison values for the substrate, and then comparing the measured summed light intensity values with the comparison values to determine whether there are defects in the substrate. In another embodiment, a method includes the steps of generating a reference cluster using measured summed light intensity values for selected portions of the inspection surface. Other summed light intensity values are measured and then compared with the reference cluster. Using this comparison, a determination is made as to whether a defect is present. Another embodiment uses a constant baseline signal which is compared to actual light intensity values to determine whether a substrate defect is present. In yet another embodiment a substrate is inspected for the presence of defects by conducting a pixel-by-pixel summed light inspection of the substrate.