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. 04, 2013
Filed:
Nov. 29, 2010
Linyong Pang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Danping Peng, Fremont, CA (US);
Vikram Tolani, San Jose, CA (US);
Luminescent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A technique for calculating a second aerial image associated with a photo-mask that can be used to determine whether or not the photo-mask (which may include defects) is acceptable for use in a photolithographic process is described. In particular, using a first aerial image produced by the photo-mask when illuminated using a source pattern and an inspection image of the photo-mask, a mask pattern corresponding to the photo-mask is determined. For example, the first aerial image may be obtained using an aerial image measurement system, and the inspection image may be a critical-dimension scanning-electron-microscope image of the photo-mask. This image, which has a higher resolution than the first aerial image, may indicate spatial-variations of a magnitude of the transmittance of the photo-mask. Then, the second aerial image may be calculated based on the determined mask pattern using a different source pattern than the source pattern.