Patents Examined by Christina A Riddle
  • Patent number: 10921593
    Abstract: Embodiments herein describe AR systems that provide occluded AR content to a user while maintaining the perspective of the user. In one embodiment, the AR system includes an optical cloak that contains a mask display device and an AR display device and one or more focusing elements and a prism for focusing light captured from the user's environment. As the light enters the optical cloak, the mask display device occludes a portion of the user's view to generate a black silhouette. The AR system then combines AR content displayed by the AR display device with the image of the environment such that the location of the AR content overlaps with the location of the black silhouette. Furthermore, the spacing and characteristics of the focusing elements and the prism are set to maintain the perspective of the user as the light passes through the optical cloak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Quinn Yorklun Jen Smithwick, Isela D. Howlett
  • Patent number: 10921722
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided an exposure apparatus which projects a pattern of an original onto a substrate by a projection optical system so as to expose the substrate. The exposure apparatus includes a substrate stage, an alignment detecting system, and a controller. The substrate stage holds the substrate on which shot areas each including multiple chip areas are placed. The alignment detecting system detects multiple first alignment marks placed in a peripheral region in a first chip area in the shot area. The controller obtains the first amount of positional deviation for the first chip area according to results of detecting the multiple first alignment marks and controls exposure conditions for the first chip area in the shot area according to the first amount of positional deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation
    Inventor: Manabu Takakuwa
  • Patent number: 10921720
    Abstract: The invention relates to support structure, comprising: a first body; a second body; a first support having a first stiffness; a second support having a second stiffness, wherein the second body supports the first body at a first location via the first support, wherein the second body supports the first body at a second location via the second support; a position measurement system arranged to generate a deformation signal representative of a difference of deformation of the first body and the second body relative to each other; a first actuator to apply a force between the first body and the second body at or near the first location; a second actuator to apply a force between the first body and the second and body at or near the second location; wherein the support structure comprises a controller arranged to determine a deformation compensation signal on the basis of the first stiffness, the second stiffness and the deformation signal and to drive at least one of the first actuator and the second actuator o
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventor: Hans Butler
  • Patent number: 10914928
    Abstract: A rear adapter module for a finite conjugate optical assembly and camera is configured to couple with a core zoom module. A lens assembly of the rear adapter module includes three or more lens elements and has a positive focal length. The lens assembly exhibits a pupil size of between 16 and 25 mm and a pupil depth greater than 50 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Navitar, Inc.
    Inventor: Chad Byler
  • Patent number: 10914453
    Abstract: A wavelength conversion device in which a wavelength conversion element less easily comes off a substrate. A wavelength conversion device includes a substrate capable of rotating around a rotation axis, a wavelength conversion element provided around the rotation axis on one surface side of the substrate, and a fixing member that fixes the wavelength conversion element to the substrate. The wavelength conversion element includes a first surface opposed to the one surface of the substrate, a second surface on the opposite side of the first surface, and a first side surface section that connects the first surface to the second surface. The fixing member is in contact with the first side surface section in at least a part of the first side surface section when viewed from a direction parallel to the rotation axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Egawa
  • Patent number: 10915011
    Abstract: Disclosed is a lighting assembly including a plurality of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for providing a projection of a substantially uniform light at a working distance from the lighting assembly by oscillating the included plurality of LEDs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Designs for Vision, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard E. Feinbloom, Kenneth N. Braganca, Kenneth Koscheka, Saida Mohbi
  • Patent number: 10915032
    Abstract: To provide a cleaning apparatus advantageous for cleaning, for example, an original plate used to transfer a pattern to a substrate. Provided is a cleaning apparatus that cleans an original plate used when a pattern is transferred to a substrate, the cleaning apparatus including a region dividing unit which divides the original plate into a plurality of regions on the basis of information of the original plate, a conditions generator which generates cleaning conditions for each of the separate regions, and a cleaner which cleans the original plate on the basis of the cleaning conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shingo Ishida
  • Patent number: 10908510
    Abstract: An imprint lithography apparatus having a first frame to be mounted on a floor, a second frame mounted on the first frame via a kinematic coupling, an alignment sensor mounted on the second frame, to align an imprint lithography template arrangement with a target portion of a substrate, and a position sensor to measure a position of the imprint lithography template arrangement and/or a substrate stage relative to the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Catharinus De Schiffart, Michael Jozef Mathijs Renkens, Gerard Van Schothorst, Andre Bernardus Jeunink, Gregor Edward Van Baars, Sander Frederik Wuister, Yvonne Wendela Kruijt-Stegeman, Norbert Erwin Therenzo Jansen, Toon Hardeman, George Arie Jan De Fockert, Johan Frederik Dijksman
  • Patent number: 10908509
    Abstract: A mirror, in particular for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, has an optical effective surface and includes a substrate (11, 61, 71, 81, 91), a reflection layer system (16, 66, 76, 86, 96) for reflecting electromagnetic radiation impinging on the optical effective surface (10a, 60a, 70a, 80a, 90a), an electrode arrangement (13, 63, 73, 83) composed of a first material having a first electrical conductivity, the electrode arrangement being provided on the substrate, and a mediator layer (12, 62, 72, 82, 92) composed of a second material having a second electrical conductivity. The ratio between the first electrical conductivity and the second electrical conductivity is at least 100. The mirror also includes at least one compensation layer (88) which at least partly compensates for the influence of a thermal expansion of the electrode arrangement (83) on the deformation of the optical effective surface (80a).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH
    Inventors: Johannes Lippert, Toralf Gruner, Kerstin Hild
  • Patent number: 10908515
    Abstract: A method of topography determination, the method including: obtaining a first focus value derived from a computational lithography model modeling patterning of an unpatterned substrate or derived from measurements of a patterned layer on an unpatterned substrate; obtaining a second focus value derived from measurement of a substrate having a topography; and determining a value of the topography from the first and second focus values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Tanbir Hasan, Vivek Kumar Jain, Stefan Hunsche, Bruno La Fontaine
  • Patent number: 10908518
    Abstract: A lithographic apparatus is provided. The lithographic apparatus includes a reticle and an electrostatic clamp configured to releasably hold the reticle. The electrostatic clamp includes a first substrate having opposing first and second surfaces, a plurality of burls located on the first surface and configured to contact the reticle, a second substrate having opposing first and second surfaces. The first surface of the second substrate is coupled to the second surface of the first substrate. A plurality of cooling elements are located between the first surface of the second substrate and the second surface of the first substrate. The cooling elements are configured to cause electrons to travel from the second surface of the first substrate to the first surface of the second substrate. Each cooling element is substantially aligned with a respective burl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignees: ASML Holding N.V., ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Santiago E. Delpuerto, Antonius Franciscus Johannes De Groot, Kenneth C. Henderson, Raymond Wilhelmus Louis Lafarre, Matthew Lipson, Louis John Markoya, Tammo Uitterdijk, Ronald Van Der Wilk, Johannes Petrus Martinus Bernardus Vermeulen
  • Patent number: 10907953
    Abstract: This invention disclosures a six degree-of-freedom (DOF) measuring system and method. The measuring system comprises a tracking measurement device and a target. The tracking measurement device includes a processor, a camera and two rotation optical components connected with the processor respectively, which are arranged in sequence. The camera boresight and the optical axis of two rotation optical components are coaxial, and each rotation optical component can rotate independently. The target is mounted on the tested object, which contains at least three markers with known distance constraints. In addition, at least one marker does not coincide with the midpoint of the line connecting any two of the remaining markers. Compared with the prior technologies, this invention realizes a dynamic real-time measurement of six DOF for the tested object. In the process of measurement, only the target is fixed on the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: TONGJI UNIVERSITY
    Inventor: Anhu Li
  • Patent number: 10895812
    Abstract: Metrology apparatus and methods for measuring a structure formed on a substrate by a lithographic process are disclosed. In one arrangement an optical system illuminates the structure with radiation and detects radiation scattered by the structure. The optical system comprises a first dispersive element. The first dispersive element spectrally disperses scattered radiation exclusively from a first portion of a pupil plane field distribution along a first dispersion direction. A second dispersive element, separated from the first dispersive element, spectrally disperses scattered radiation exclusively from a second portion of the pupil plane field distribution, different from the first portion of the pupil plane field distribution, along a second dispersion direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Nitesh Pandey, Armand Eugene Albert Koolen
  • Patent number: 10890851
    Abstract: An imprint lithography apparatus having a first frame to be mounted on a floor, a second frame mounted on the first frame via a kinematic coupling, an alignment sensor mounted on the second frame, to align an imprint lithography template arrangement with a target portion of a substrate, and a position sensor to measure a position of the imprint lithography template arrangement and/or a substrate stage relative to the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Catharinus De Schiffart, Michael Jozef Mathijs Renkens, Gerard Van Schothorst, Andre Bernardus Jeunink, Gregor Edward Van Baars, Sander Frederik Wuister, Yvonne Wendela Kruijt-Stegeman, Norbert Erwin Therenzo Jansen, Toon Hardeman, George Arie Jan De Fockert, Johan Frederik Dijksman
  • Patent number: 10884232
    Abstract: An insertion apparatus includes an insertion end positionable within a cavity and configured to travel through the cavity, a steering end opposite the insertion end, and a body extending from the insertion end to the steering end and sized to fit within the cavity. The body includes a plurality of members flexibly coupled together and individually actuated. Each member of the plurality of members includes at least one actuator strand. At least one member of the plurality of members has a first configuration in which the at least one member of the plurality of members has a first stiffness and a second configuration in which the at least one member of the plurality of members has a second stiffness greater than the first stiffness. At least a portion of the body is flexible to facilitate travel of the body through the cavity when the at least one member of the plurality of members is in the first configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Deepak Trivedi, Charles Burton Theurer, Anil Raj Duggal, Hongyi Zhou, Radislav Alexandrovich Potyrailo, Yizhen Lin
  • Patent number: 10884341
    Abstract: It is possible to implement pattern formation and pattern manufacturing that eliminate the necessity of high-cost accurate positioning. A pattern manufacturing apparatus (100) includes a controller (101) and a laser projector (102). The controller (101) controls the laser projector (102) to form a pattern on a pattern forming sheet (130) placed on a stage (140). The laser projector (102) further includes an optical engine (121). The optical engine (121) irradiates the pattern forming sheet (130) with a light beam (122). The stage (140) has a hollow structure not to obstruct the optical path of the light beam (122). The pattern forming sheet (130) includes a light-transmitting sheet material layer and a photo-curing layer applied to the sheet material layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: KANTATSU CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Eiji Oshima
  • Patent number: 10876828
    Abstract: A tracking system for determining at least one spatial position and an orientation of at least one measurement object includes at least three cameras. The at least three cameras are each arranged at different spatial positions. Each of the at least three cameras has at least two color subsystems. Each of the color subsystems has at least one bandpass filter. Each of the bandpass filters of the color subsystems of the respective camera has different passbands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Optotechnik GmbH
    Inventor: Christian Hoerr
  • Patent number: 10877383
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern from a reticle to a workpiece, a pellicle being positioned near the reticle, includes a heat transfer frame, an illuminator, and a temperature controller. The heat transfer frame is configured to be positioned near the pellicle, the heat transfer frame defining a beam aperture. The illuminator directs a beam through the beam aperture and the pellicle at the reticle. The temperature controller controls the temperature of the heat transfer frame to control the temperature of the pellicle. The illuminator can direct the beam from a beam source, such as an EUV beam source. Additionally, the temperature controller can cryogenically cool the heat transfer frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Inventors: Paul Derek Coon, Soichi Owa
  • Patent number: 10871716
    Abstract: A method including obtaining a measurement result from a target on a substrate, by using a substrate measurement recipe; determining, by a hardware computer system, a parameter from the measurement result, wherein the parameter characterizes dependence of the measurement result on an optical path length of the target for incident radiation used in the substrate measurement recipe and the determining the parameter includes determining dependence of the measurement result on a relative change of wavelength of the incident radiation; and if the parameter is not within a specified range, adjusting the substrate measurement recipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Miguel Garcia Granda, Christian Marinus Leewis, Frank Staals
  • Patent number: 10866091
    Abstract: A concentricity detection system is adapted to detect a concentricity of an annular component. The concentricity detection system includes a support base having a recess on a top surface, a transparent plate received and positioned in the recess, a vision detection device located above the support base and facing the transparent plate, and a backlight source located below the support base and facing the transparent plate. The annular component is disposed in the recess of the support base and supported on a top surface of the transparent plate. The vision detection device is configured to detect the concentricity of the annular component supported on the transparent plate. A through hole is formed in a bottom portion of the recess and a light from the backlight source passes through the support base via the through hole and the transparent plate to provide backlighting for the annular component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignees: Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., TE Connectivity Corporation
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Dandan Zhang, Roberto Francisco-Yi Lu