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:
Jun. 05, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 04, 2008
Mehdi Vaez-iravani, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Stan Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
Guoheng Zhao, Milpitas, CA (US);
Mehdi Vaez-Iravani, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Stan Stokowski, Danville, CA (US);
Guoheng Zhao, Milpitas, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A plurality of spots forming an M×N matrix can be used in a focus system. Specifically, a plurality of identical spots can be simultaneously projected onto the sample. A V(z) curve can be generated for each spot. A robust focus can be determined based on the generated V(z) curves. Using the spot matrix significantly increases the probability that at least one of the plurality of spots in the matrix can provide an unambiguous V(z) curve. Thus, the spot matrix eliminates the need to search for an appropriate site because the spot matrix increases the probability of landing on a 'good' location by a factor of M×N.