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. 07, 2013
Filed:
Jan. 27, 2010
Karen D. Badger, Georgia, VT (US);
Karen Strube Edwards, Milton, VT (US);
Patricia Mae Hynek, Jericho, VT (US);
John M. Leonard, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Maureen Fitzpatrick Mcfadden, Burlington, VT (US);
David A. Merchant, Milton, VT (US);
Karen D. Badger, Georgia, VT (US);
Karen Strube Edwards, Milton, VT (US);
Patricia Mae Hynek, Jericho, VT (US);
John M. Leonard, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Maureen Fitzpatrick McFadden, Burlington, VT (US);
David A. Merchant, Milton, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of and system for inspecting multi-layer reticles. The method includes: selecting a multi-layer reticle having an array of cells arranged in R rows and C columns; defining a full inspection region that includes all cells of the array of cells; and when R is equal to one (or is greater than two) and C is greater than two (or is equal to one) and a cell of the array of cells is a dummy cell in a first or last position of a row (or of a column) of the array of cells, then reducing the full inspection region to generate a shrunken inspection region that does not include the dummy cell, and then inspecting the shrunken inspection region for defects. If the dummy cell is between two non-dummy cells, then the dummy cell is a copy of one of the non-dummy cells, but is not inspected.