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. 13, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 24, 2006
Jun YE, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Moshe E. Preil, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Xun Chen, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Shauh-teh Juang, Saratoga, CA (US);
James Wiley, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Jun Ye, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Moshe E. Preil, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Xun Chen, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Shauh-Teh Juang, Saratoga, CA (US);
James Wiley, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Brion Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for identifying process window signature patterns in a device area of a mask is disclosed. The signature patterns collectively provide a unique response to changes in a set of process condition parameters to the lithography process. The signature patterns enable monitoring of associated process condition parameters for signs of process drift, analyzing of the process condition parameters to determine which are limiting and affecting the chip yields, analyzing the changes in the process condition parameters to determine the corrections that should be fed back into the lithography process or forwarded to an etch process, identifying specific masks that do not transfer the intended pattern to wafers as intended, and identifying groups of masks that share common characteristics and behave in a similar manner with respect to changes in process condition parameters when transferring the pattern to the wafer.