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:
Jan. 08, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 29, 2004
Dragos Maciuca, Castro Valley, CA (US);
Grace H. Chen, San Jose, CA (US);
Tao-yi Fu, Fremont, CA (US);
Dragos Maciuca, Castro Valley, CA (US);
Grace H. Chen, San Jose, CA (US);
Tao-Yi Fu, Fremont, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A filter to selectively block light from passing through the filter and to selectively permit light to pass through the filter. The filter includes an array with a plurality of individually addressable filter elements. Each filter element is selectively settable to have a variable transmittance to the light of between substantially zero percent and substantially one hundred percent. In this manner, the filter according to the present invention provides areas that pass only a portion of the light, and thus can block the light using patterns other than just an abrupt on/off filtering. By so doing, the filter is able to dramatically reduce, and in some embodiments eliminate, the light ringing that typically accompanies such on/off filters.