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:
Jul. 15, 2014
Filed:
May. 25, 2012
Reinier Louis Warschauer, Portland, OR (US);
Richard J. Young, Beaverton, OR (US);
Chad Rue, Portland, OR (US);
Peter D. Carleson, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Reinier Louis Warschauer, Portland, OR (US);
Richard J. Young, Beaverton, OR (US);
Chad Rue, Portland, OR (US);
Peter D. Carleson, Hillsboro, OR (US);
FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Abstract
An improved method of high accuracy beam placement for local area navigation in the field of semiconductor chip manufacturing. Preferred embodiments of the present invention can also be used to rapidly navigate to one single bit cell in a memory array or similar structure, for example to characterize or correct a defect in that individual bit cell. High-resolution scanning is used to scan only a 'strip' of cells on the one edge of the array (along either the X axis and the Y axis) to locate a row containing the desired cell followed by a similar high-speed scan along the located row (in the remaining direction) until the desired cell location is reached. This allows pattern-recognition tools to be used to automatically 'count' the cells necessary to navigate to the desired cell, without the large expenditure of time required to image the entire array.