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. 02, 2001
Douglas S. Hobbs, Lexington, MA (US);
James J. Cowan, Lexington, MA (US);
Douglas S. Hobbs, Lexington, MA (US);
James J. Cowan, Lexington, MA (US);
CoHo Holdings, LLC, Burlington, MA (US);
Abstract
An interference lithography system is described that is capable of exposing high resolution patterns in photosensitive media and employing yield increasing active stabilization techniques needed in production environments. The inventive device utilizes a division-of-wavefront interference lithography configuration which divides a single large field size optical beam using one or more mirrors, and is actively stabilized with a subsystem employing; a phase modulator operating on each divided wavefront section; a novel feedback apparatus for observing the relative phase shifts between interfering wavefront sections; and a control system for holding the relative phase shifts constant. The present invention also includes; a method for shaping the illumination beam's intensity distribution for more efficient power utilization and greater feature size uniformity; a horizontal substrate loading configuration compatible with robotic handling; an automated pattern pitch calibration for simple, flexible system reconfiguration; a compact clean-room compatible superstructure for increased passive stability in high vibration manufacturing environments; and a method for optimizing the polarization state of the interfering beam sections in a multiple mirror system.