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:
Sep. 14, 2010
Filed:
Sep. 26, 2005
Michael D. Kirk, Los Altos, CA (US);
Stephen A. Biellak, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David W. Shortt, Milpitas, CA (US);
Michael D. Kirk, Los Altos, CA (US);
Stephen A. Biellak, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David W. Shortt, Milpitas, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A wafer having improved inspection sensitivity to foreign matter on a top-most surface of the wafer, as detected with a surface scanning optical inspection system that uses an inspection wavelength. The wafer includes a substantially homogenous first layer at the top-most surface of the wafer, the first layer having a first thickness. The first layer is at least partially transparent to the inspection wavelength. A substantially homogenous second layer immediately underlies the first layer, the second layer having a second thickness. The second layer is at least partially transparent to the inspection wavelength. A substrate immediately underlies the second layer. The first thickness and the second thickness are set in a combination that produces a local minimum of an electric field at the top-most surface and a local maximum of an electric field within one hundred nanometers above the top-most surface.