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:
May. 04, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2008
Guoheng Zhao, Milpitas, CA (US);
Geordie Zapalac, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Samuel Ngai, San Francisco, CA (US);
Mehdi Vaez-iravani, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ady Levy, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Vineet Dharmadhikari, San Jose, CA (US);
Guoheng Zhao, Milpitas, CA (US);
Geordie Zapalac, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Samuel Ngai, San Francisco, CA (US);
Mehdi Vaez-Iravani, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ady Levy, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Vineet Dharmadhikari, San Jose, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
To increase inspection throughput, the field of view (FOV) of an IR camera can be moved over the sample at a constant velocity. Throughout this moving, a modulation (e.g. optical or electrical) can be provided to the sample and IR images can be captured using the IR camera. Moving the FOV, providing the modulation, and capturing the IR images can be synchronized. The IR images can be filtered to generate the time delay LIT, thereby providing defect identification. In one embodiment, this filtering accounts for the number of pixels of the IR camera in a scanning direction. For the case of optical modulation, a dark field region can be provided for the FOV throughout the moving, thereby providing an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) during filtering.