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. 01, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 23, 2005
Jeffrey S. Sullivan, Castro Valley, CA (US);
Tony Tiecheng Young, Fremont, CA (US);
Jeffrey S. Sullivan, Castro Valley, CA (US);
Tony Tiecheng Young, Fremont, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A significant improvement in the alignment of a particle-beam-generated pattern relative to a pre-existing pattern present on a substrate has been accomplished using optical measurement to register the particle beam to the pre-existing pattern. Use of a position fiducial which can be accurately measured by both an optical microscope and a particle beam axis is used to align a pre-existing pattern with a particle-beam-generated pattern during writing of the particle-beam-generated pattern. Registration of the pre-existing pattern to the fiducial and registration of the particle beam axis to the fiducial periodically during production of the particle-beam-generated pattern continually provides an improvement in the overall alignment of the pattern being created to the pre-existing pattern on the substrate. The improved method of alignment can be used to correct for drift, or thermal expansion, or gravitational sag, by way of example.