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:
Apr. 28, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2007
Kenneth J. Krzeczowski, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
Kenneth J. Krzeczowski, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment relates to a method of behind-the-lens dark-field imaging using a scanning electron microscope apparatus. An incident beam is focused onto a specimen surface using an immersion objective lens, and the incident beam is deflected so as to scan the incident electron beam over a field of view of the specimen surface. A secondary electron beam is detected using a segmented detector to obtain a set of pixel data for each segment of the detector. Scan-dependent movement of the secondary electron beam over the segmented detector is compensated for by processing using a dynamic centering algorithm to generate a set of virtual pixel data for each segment of a virtual detector. At least one set of the virtual pixel data is used to generate a dark field image. Other embodiments, aspects, and features are also disclosed.