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:
Jul. 07, 2009
Filed:
Oct. 12, 2005
Michael E. Adel, Zichron Ya'akov, IL;
Moshe Preil, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Kevin Monahan, Cupertino, CA (US);
Christopher F. Bevis, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ben Tsai, Saratoga, CA (US);
Mark Ghinovker, Migdel Ha'Emek, IL;
Michael E. Adel, Zichron Ya'akov, IL;
Moshe Preil, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Kevin Monahan, Cupertino, CA (US);
Christopher F. Bevis, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ben Tsai, Saratoga, CA (US);
Mark Ghinovker, Migdel Ha'Emek, IL;
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for monitoring a characteristic associated with a product feature on a semiconductor product. A proxy target formed from at least one substructure that corresponds to a product feature is provided. The substructure is not individually resolvable by an optical tool. A characteristic of the proxy target is determined based on optically monitoring the proxy target using the optical tool. Based on the determined characteristic of the proxy target, it is then determined whether the corresponding product feature has a characteristic that is within a predetermined specification or whether a process parameter used to fabricate such product feature is within a predetermined specification. In a specific embodiment, the characteristic of the corresponding product feature includes a shape parameter and a position parameter.