Patents Represented by Attorney Suzanne R. Jones
  • Patent number: 5381004
    Abstract: A method for reducing targeting errors that arise when trying to locate contaminant particles on a notched semiconductor wafer using a high-magnification imaging device, based on estimates of wafer feature positions obtained from a scanning device. The present invention scans a notched semiconductor wafer with a scanning device to obtain scanning device coordinates for the positions of: (i) the wafer center; (ii) the wafer notch; and (iii) contaminant particles on the wafer. Next, the present invention finds the wafer notch and wafer center with an imaging device and obtains their estimated imaging device coordinates. Subsequently, the present invention calculates estimated transformation parameters for a coordinate transformation between the coordinate systems of the scanning device and the imaging device based on the scamping device coordinates and the estimated imaging device coordinates of the wafer notch and the wafer center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 10, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Yuri S. Uritsky, Harry Q. Lee