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:
Nov. 30, 2010
Filed:
Jun. 28, 2006
Dov Furman, Rehovot, IL;
Gad Neumann, Rehovot, IL;
Mark Wagner, Rehovot, IL;
Noam Dotan, Givataim, IL;
Ram Segal, Netanya, IL;
Shai Silberstein, Rishon Le-Zion, IL;
Dov Furman, Rehovot, IL;
Gad Neumann, Rehovot, IL;
Mark Wagner, Rehovot, IL;
Noam Dotan, Givataim, IL;
Ram Segal, Netanya, IL;
Shai Silberstein, Rishon Le-Zion, IL;
Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore, SG;
Abstract
Fast on-line electro-optical detection of wafer defects by illuminating with a short light pulse from a repetitively pulsed laser, a section of the wafer while it is moved across the field of view of an imaging system, and imaging the moving wafer onto a focal plane assembly, optically forming a continuous surface of photo-detectors at the focal plane of the optical imaging system. The continuously moving wafer is illuminated by a laser pulse of duration significantly shorter than the pixel dwell time, such that there is effectively no image smear during the wafer motion. The laser pulse has sufficient energy and brightness to impart the necessary illumination to each sequentially inspected field of view required for creating an image of the inspected wafer die. A novel fiber optical illumination delivery system, which is effective in reducing the effects of source coherence is described. Other novel aspects of the system include a system for compensating for variations in the pulse energy of a Q-switched laser output, methods for autofocussing of the wafer imaging system, and novel methods for removal of repetitive features of the image by means of Fourier plane filtering, to enable easier detection of wafer defects.