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. 30, 2006
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2003
Kurt Lehman, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Charles Chen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald L. Allen, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Shinagawa, Cupertino, CA (US);
Anantha Sethuraman, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christopher F. Bevis, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Thanassis Trikas, Redwood City, CA (US);
Haiguang Chen, Millbrae, CA (US);
Ching Ling Meng, Fremont, CA (US);
Kurt Lehman, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Charles Chen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald L. Allen, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Shinagawa, Cupertino, CA (US);
Anantha Sethuraman, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christopher F. Bevis, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Thanassis Trikas, Redwood City, CA (US);
Haiguang Chen, Millbrae, CA (US);
Ching Ling Meng, Fremont, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corp., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for detecting a presence of blobs on a specimen are provided. One method may include scanning measurement spots across a specimen during polishing of the specimen. The method may also include determining if the blobs are present on the specimen at the measurement spots. Each of the blobs may include unwanted material disposed upon a contiguous portion of the measurement spots. In some instances, the blobs may include copper. In some embodiments, scanning the measurement spots may include measuring an optical property and/or an electrical property of the specimen at the measurement spots. Another embodiment includes dynamically determining a signal threshold distinguishing a presence of the blobs from an absence of the blobs. An additional embodiment includes determining an endpoint of polishing if, for example, blobs are not determined to be present on the specimen.