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:
Jan. 23, 2018
Filed:
Aug. 22, 2014
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Gildardo Delgado, Livermore, CA (US);
Terry Johnson, Livermore, CA (US);
Marco Arienti, Livermore, CA (US);
Salam Harb, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Lennie Klebanoff, Dublin, CA (US);
Rudy Garcia, Union City, CA (US);
Mohammed Tahmassebpur, San Ramon, CA (US);
Sarah Scott, Oakland, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Abstract
A computer-implemented method for determining an optimized purge gas flow in a semi-conductor inspection metrology or lithography apparatus, comprising receiving a permissible contaminant mole fraction, a contaminant outgassing flow rate associated with a contaminant, a contaminant mass diffusivity, an outgassing surface length, a pressure, a temperature, a channel height, and a molecular weight of a purge gas, calculating a flow factor based on the permissible contaminant mole fraction, the contaminant outgassing flow rate, the channel height, and the outgassing surface length, comparing the flow factor to a predefined maximum flow factor value, calculating a minimum purge gas velocity and a purge gas mass flow rate from the flow factor, the contaminant mass diffusivity, the pressure, the temperature, and the molecular weight of the purge gas, and introducing the purge gas into the semi-conductor inspection metrology or lithography apparatus with the minimum purge gas velocity and the purge gas flow rate.