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.

Date of Patent:
Sep. 01, 2015

Filed:

Jan. 15, 2013
Applicant:

Kla-tencor Corporation;

Inventors:

Shouhong Tang, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Andrew An Zeng, Milpitas, CA (US);

Yi Zhang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Jie-Fei Zheng, Fremont, CA (US);

Assignee:

KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 11/02 (2006.01); G01B 9/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 9/02076 (2013.01); G01B 9/02027 (2013.01);
Abstract

Methods and systems for reducing wafer shape and thickness measurement errors resulted from cavity shape changes are disclosed. Cavity calibration process is performed immediately before the wafer measurement. Calibrating the cavity characteristics every time the method is executed reduces wafer shape and thickness measurement errors resulted from cavity shape changes. Additionally or alternatively, a polynomial fitting process utilizing a polynomial of at least a second order is utilized for cavity tilt estimation. High order cavity shape information generated using high order polynomials takes into consideration cavity shape changes due to temperature variations, stress or the like, effectively increases accuracy of the wafer shape and thickness information computed.


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