Patents Examined by Michael A. Lyons
  • Patent number: 11921211
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure are drawn to apparatuses and methods for a rotating optical reflector. Optical systems may have a limited field of view, and so in order to expand the area that the optical system collects data from, the field of view of the optical system may be scanned across a target area. The present disclosure is directed to a rotating optical reflector, which includes a transmissive layer which refracts light onto a reflective layer, which has a normal which is not parallel to the axis about which the optical reflector is rotated. The optical reflector may be both statically and dynamically balanced, which may allow an increased size of the optical reflector, which in turn may increase the aperture of an optical system (e.g., a lidar system) using the rotating optical reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Bridger Photonics, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Aaron Roos, Michael James Thorpe, Aaron Thomas Kreitinger, Christopher Ray Wilson
  • Patent number: 11920928
    Abstract: A system includes a first optical unit that emits light to a measurement target object and receives first interference light incident from the measurement target object, a second optical unit that emits the light to a reference object configured to have a constant optical path length with respect to a temperature fluctuation and receives second interference light incident from the reference object, a spectroscope connected to the first optical unit and the second optical unit and receives the first interference light and the second interference light to be incident, and a control unit connected to the spectroscope, and the control unit calculates a fluctuation rate of a measurement optical path length with respect to a reference optical path length under a predetermined temperature environment on the basis of the optical path length of the reference object calculated on the basis of the second interference light incident on the spectroscope under the predetermined temperature environment, and the reference op
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Kenji Nagai, Hideaki Nagasaki
  • Patent number: 11921023
    Abstract: Holographic Video Microscopy analysis of non-spherical particles is disclosed herein. Properties of the particles are determined by application of light scattering theory to holography data. Effective sphere theory is applied to provide information regarding the reflective index of a sphere that includes a target particle. Known particles may be co-dispersed with unknown particles in a medium and the holographic video microscopy is used to determine properties, such as porosity, of the unknown particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignees: New York University, Spheryx, Inc.
    Inventors: David G. Grier, Mary Ann Odete, Fook Chiong Cheong, Annemarie Winters, Jesse J. Elliott, Laura A. Philips
  • Patent number: 11924956
    Abstract: An apparatus for measurement of Thomson scattering signals from a plasma includes a light emitting device, configured to emit a light beam into the plasma, along an axis. In addition, the apparatus includes a collector configured to collect the Thomson scattering from the plasma at an angle less than 90 degrees from the axis of the light beam. Further, the apparatus includes a sensor assembly to detect the Thomson scattering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: The Texas A&M University System
    Inventors: Richard B. Miles, Christopher Limbach, Alexandros Gerakis
  • Patent number: 11913772
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a metrology system having 3-dimensional sensors for thickness measurements of semiconductor elements, and methods for taking the thickness measurements. In an aspect, the 3-dimensional sensor may be a single or dual 3-dimensional profiler that may scan across the top and bottom surfaces of an element to obtain a thickness measurement. In another aspect, the method may be used to measure a gap between elements that have assembled together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Jianyong Mo, V Wade Singleton, Yiren Wu, Liang Zhang, David Wasinger
  • Patent number: 11906356
    Abstract: A spectral-characteristic acquisition apparatus and a method of obtaining spectral characteristics. The spectral-characteristic acquisition apparatus includes a conveyor including a first conveyance roller pair disposed in a conveyance direction in which an object is conveyed and a second conveyance roller pair disposed downstream from the first conveyance roller pair in the conveyance direction, a sensor to detect that the object has reached the second conveyance roller pair, circuitry to control the second conveyance roller pair to drive by a predetermined amount with a driving force greater than a driving force of the first conveyance roller pair upon detecting that the object has reached the second conveyance roller pair by the sensor and to stop driving, and a color data obtainer to obtain color data from the object at a position where the object stops moving. In the spectral-characteristic acquisition apparatus, the circuitry estimates a spectral characteristic of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshio Koike, Nobuo Kikuchi, Dan Ozasa, Kohei Shimbo
  • Patent number: 11906302
    Abstract: A method and related system for measuring a surface of a substrate including at least one structure using low coherence optical interferometry, the method being implemented with a system having an interferometric device, a light source, an imaging sensor, and a processing module, the method including: - acquiring, with the imaging sensor, an interferometric signal formed by the interferometric device between a reference beam and a measurement beam reflected by the surface at a plurality of measurement points in a field of view; the following steps being carried out by the processing module: classifying, by a learning technique, the acquired interferometric signals according to a plurality of classes, each class being associated with a reference interferometric signal representative of a typical structure; and analysing the interferometric signals to derive information on the structure at the measurement points, as a function of the class of each interferometric signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: UNITY SEMICONDUCTOR
    Inventors: Jean-François Boulanger, Isabelle Bergoënd
  • Patent number: 11898900
    Abstract: A method for distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) includes (a) generating first data signals for transmission via a first fiber optic strand, (b) generating first sensing signals for transmission via the first fiber optic strand, and (c) analyzing at least one of first back-scattering signals and first forward-scattering signals of the first sensing signals, to perform DFOS. The method may further include generating the first sensing signal such that presence of the first sensing signal on the first fiber optic strand does not interfere with transmission of the first data signal by the first fiber optic strand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Luis Alberto Campos, Zhensheng Jia, Mu Xu, Haipeng Zhang, Belal Hamzeh
  • Patent number: 11892282
    Abstract: A protective film thickness measuring method includes a step of applying light to a top surface of a wafer in a state in which no protective film is formed and measuring a first reflection intensity of the light reflected from the top surface, a step of forming the protective film including a light absorbing material, a step of irradiating the protective film with exciting light of a wavelength at which the light absorbing material fluoresces and measuring a second reflection intensity including fluorescence of the protective film and the light reflected from the top surface, and a step of excluding reflection intensity of patterns formed on the top surface, by subtracting the measured first reflection intensity from the measured second reflection intensity, and calculating fluorescence intensity of the protective film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroto Yoshida, Nobuyasu Kitahara, Kuo Wei Wu, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Naoki Murazawa, Joel Koerwer
  • Patent number: 11892283
    Abstract: A measurement apparatus (10) for interferometrically determining a surface shape of a test object (14). A radiation source provides an input wave (42), a multiply-encoded diffractive optical element (60), which is configured to produce by diffraction from the input wave a test wave (66) that is directed at the test object and has a wavefront in the form of a free-form surface and at least one calibration wave (70), and a capture device (46). The calibration wave has a wavefront with a non-rotationally symmetric shape (68f), wherein cross sections through the wavefront of the calibration wave along cross-sectional surfaces each aligned transversely to one another have a curved shape. The curved shapes in the different cross-sectional surfaces differ in terms of an opening parameter. The capture device (46) captures a calibration interferogram formed by superimposing a reference wave (40) with the calibration wave after interaction with a calibration object (74).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH
    Inventors: Stefan Schulte, Rolf Freimann
  • Patent number: 11885622
    Abstract: A fiber-optic interferometer is designed to receive and propagate a first single-mode wave along a first optical path and, respectively, a second single-mode wave along a second optical path, the second optical path being the reverse of the first optical path, and to form a first output wave and, respectively, a second output wave, having a modulated phase difference ??m(t). According to the invention, the modulated phase difference ??m(t) is equal to sum of a first periodic phase difference ???(t) having a level equal to ±?, a second periodic phase difference ??alpha(t) having a level equal to ±alpha and a third periodic phase difference ??beta(t) having a variable level between ?beta and +beta, said modulated phase difference ??m(t) comprising per modulation period T at least eight modulation levels among twelve modulation levels and said modulated phase difference between such that: ??m(t+T/2)=???m(t).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: EXAIL
    Inventors: Eric Ducloux, Cédric Molucon, Hervè Lefevre
  • Patent number: 11886092
    Abstract: A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is provided to receive a coherent input photon in an initial pointer state for producing a continuously variable “faux qubit” in a magic state. The MZI apparatus includes first and second ports, first and second beam-splitters, first and second mirrors, and a modular interaction operator. The emitter produces an input coherent photon in an initial pointer state along an emission direction. The first and second ports are respectively disposed parallel and perpendicular to the emission direction. The first and second beam-splitters are disposed respectively collinearly with the emission direction and between the first and second ports parallel to and offset from the emission direction. The first and second mirrors are disposed respectively offset from and collinearly with the emission direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Scott E. Spence, Allen D. Parks
  • Patent number: 11885750
    Abstract: In some examples, a wafer bow measurement system comprises a measurement unit including: a wafer support assembly to impart rotational movement to a measured wafer supported in the measurement unit; an optical sensor; a calibration standard to calibrate the optical sensor; a linear stage actuator to impart linear direction of movement to the optical sensor; a wafer centering sensor to determine a centering of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit; and a wafer alignment sensor to determine an alignment of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Rajan Arora, Michael Souza, Wayne Tang, Yassine Kabouzi, Ye Feng
  • Patent number: 11885608
    Abstract: An ellipsometer is provided. The ellipsometer includes: a polarizing optical element, comprising a prism, that is configured to split reflected light into two linearly polarized components of light having polarization directions orthogonal to each other, the reflected light generated by reflecting illuminated light, including linearly polarized light that is polarized in one direction, from a measurement surface of a sample; an interference member, comprising at least one body, that is configured to form at least one interference fringe in which the two linearly polarized components of light interfere with each other in directions different from the polarization directions; an image detector configured to detect the at least one interference fringe; and an analysis device including at least one processor, the analysis device configured to calculate ellipsometry coefficients ? and ? based on the at least one interference fringe that is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Hidaka
  • Patent number: 11885680
    Abstract: A spectral device is provided with: a filter having a property of transmitting light of multiple wavelength ranges from a measurement object; a driving means to slide the filter; and a detector to detect an intensity of the light from the measurement object, the light having passed through the filter, the detector to further measure the intensity of the light multiple times sequentially while the driving means slides the filter and thereby obtain multiple pieces of measured data to be used for a calculation of spectral information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Toru Nakatani, Toshio Kawano, Hitoshi Nagasawa, Koji Nagai
  • Patent number: 11879721
    Abstract: A measurement method for interferometrically measuring the shape of a surface (112) of a test object (114). A test wave (125-1, 125-2) directed at the test object has a wavefront that is at least partially adapted to the desired shape of the surface, and a reference wave (128-1, 128-2) directed at a reflective optical element (130-1, 130 2) has a propagation direction that deviates from the propagation direction of the test wave (125-1, 125-2) for each of two input waves by diffraction at a diffractive element (124). For each wavelength, the test wave is superimposed after interaction with the test object with the associated reference wave after the back-reflection at the first reflective optical element. The test and reference waves are diffracted again at the diffractive element for superposition. An interferogram produced by the superposition is captured in a capture plane (148-1, 148-2). The interferograms are jointly evaluated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH
    Inventor: Alexander Wolf
  • Patent number: 11876054
    Abstract: An overlay mark includes a first feature extending in an X-direction, wherein the first feature is a first distance from a substrate. The overlay mark further includes a second feature extending in a Y-direction perpendicular to the X-direction, wherein the second feature is a second distance from the substrate, and the second distance is different from the first distance, wherein at least one of the first feature or the second feature comprises a conductive material. The overlay mark further includes a third feature extending in the X-direction and the Y-direction, wherein the third feature is a third distance from the substrate, and the third distance is different from the first distance and the second distance. The first distance, the second distance and the third distance from the substrate are along a Z-direction perpendicular to both the X-direction and the Y-direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Chen-Yu Chen, Ming-Feng Shieh, Ching-Yu Chang
  • Patent number: 11874167
    Abstract: A spectrometer is provided. In one implementation, for example, a spectrometer comprises an excitation source, a focusing lens, a movable mirror, and an actuator assembly. The focusing lens is adapted to focus an incident beam from the excitation source. The actuator assembly is adapted to control the movable mirror to move a focused incident beam across a surface of the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Metrohm Spectro, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Watson, Shane Buller, Keith Carron
  • Patent number: 11867505
    Abstract: Interferometric speckle visibility spectroscopy methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable media for recovering sample speckle field data or a speckle field pattern from an off-axis interferogram recorded by one or more sensors over an exposure time and determining sample dynamics of a sample being analyzed from speckle statistics of the speckle field data or the speckle field pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: California Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Joshua Brake, Jian Xu, Changhuei Yang
  • Patent number: 11867612
    Abstract: An optical inspection apparatus includes a stage that supports a target substrate, the target substrate including a plurality of light emitting elements, a jig that applies an electrical signal to the target substrate, the jig including a regulation resistor, a microscope that generates magnified image data of the target substrate, a camera that captures the magnified image data to generate a color image of the target substrate, and an optical measurement unit that captures the magnified image data of the target substrate to generate a spectrum image and measure optical characteristics of the target substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Je Won Yoo, Basrur Veidhes, Dae Hyun Kim, Hyun Min Cho, Jong Won Lee, Joo Yeol Lee