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. 04, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 26, 2014
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Steven R. Lange, Alamo, CA (US);
Robert M. Danen, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Stefano Palomba, San Jose, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for inspecting a vertical semiconductor stack of a plurality of layers is disclosed. The method includes (a) on a confocal tool, repeatedly focusing an illumination beam at a plurality of focus planes at a plurality of different depths of a first vertical stack, wherein a defect is located at an unknown one of the different depths and the illumination beam has a wavelength range between about 700 nm and about 950 nm, (b) generating a plurality of in-focus images for the different depths based on in-focus output light detected from the first vertical stack at the different depths, wherein out-of-focus output light is inhibited from reaching the detector of the confocal system and inhibited from contributing to generation of the in-focus images, and (c) determining which one of the different depths at which the defect is located in the first vertical stack based on the in-focus images.