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:
Mar. 03, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 29, 2005
Applicants:
Lev Klibanov, Ottawa, CA;
Sherri Lynn Griffin, Ottawa, CA;
Inventors:
Lev Klibanov, Ottawa, CA;
Sherri Lynn Griffin, Ottawa, CA;
Assignee:
Chipworks Inc., Ottawa, Ontario, CA;
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 31/26 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Integrated circuit dies are prepared for imaging by completely etching away all metal from the metal lines without removing barrier layers that underlie the metal lines. The metal vias may also be removed, especially if they are formed from the same metal as the metal lines, as in copper damascene circuits. This provides high contrast images that permits circuit layout extraction software to readily distinguish between metal lines and vias.