Patents by Inventor Jim Wiley

Jim Wiley has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Qualifying patterns, patterning processes, or patterning apparatus in the fabrication of microlithographic patterns
    Patent number: 7418124
    Abstract: Methods that include acquiring aerial images of a reticle for different values of a member of a set of lithographic variables are provided. One method also includes determining a presence of an anomaly in a design pattern of the reticle by comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values. A different method includes comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values and determining an area on the reticle where a lithography process using the reticle is most susceptible to failure based on the results of the comparison. Another embodiment includes determining a presence of transient repeating defects on the reticle by subtracting non-transient defects from the aerial images and comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2008
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Technologies Corp.
    Inventors: Ingrid B. Peterson, Mike Von den Hoff, Jim Wiley
  • Qualifying patterns, patterning processes, or patterning apparatus in the fabrication of microlithographic patterns
    Publication number: 20040091142
    Abstract: Methods that include acquiring aerial images of a reticle for different values of a member of a set of lithographic variables are provided. One method also includes determining a presence of an anomaly in a design pattern of the reticle by comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values. A different method includes comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values and determining an area on the reticle where a lithography process using the reticle is most susceptible to failure based on the results of the comparison. Another embodiment includes determining a presence of transient repeating defects on the reticle by subtracting non-transient defects from the aerial images and comparing at least one pair of the aerial images corresponding to at least two of the different values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2003
    Publication date: May 13, 2004
    Inventors: Ingrid B. Peterson, Mike Von den Hoff, Jim Wiley