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:
Dec. 04, 2007
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2006
Sterling G. Watson, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Ady Levy, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Chris A. Mack, Austin, TX (US);
Stanley E. Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
Zain K. Saidin, San Mateo, CA (US);
Larry S. Zurbrick, San Jose, CA (US);
Sterling G. Watson, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Ady Levy, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Chris A. Mack, Austin, TX (US);
Stanley E. Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
Zain K. Saidin, San Mateo, CA (US);
Larry S. Zurbrick, San Jose, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Disclosed are systems and methods for modifying a reticle. In general, inspection results from a plurality of wafers or prediction results from a lithographic model are used to individually decrease the dose or any other optical property at specific locations of the reticle. In one embodiment, any suitable optical property of the reticle is modified by an optical beam, such as a femto-second laser, at specific locations on the reticle so as to widen the process window for such optical property. Examples of optical properties include dose, phase, illumination angle, and birefringence. Techniques for adjusting optical properties at specific locations on a reticle using an optical beam may be practiced for other purposes besides widening the process window.