Patents by Inventor Alberto Santoni

Alberto Santoni 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).

  • Overlay metrology using scatterometry profiling
    Patent number: 6985229
    Abstract: A method for nondestructively characterizing alignment overlay between two layers of a semiconductor wafer. An incident beam of radiation is directed upon the wafer surface and the properties of the resulting diffracted beam are determined, in one embodiment as a function of wavelength or incident angle. The spectrally or angularly resolved characteristics of the diffracted beam are related to the alignment of the overlay features. A library of calculated diffraction spectra is established by modeling a full range of expected variations in overlay alignment. The spectra resulting from the inspection of an actual wafer having alignment targets in at least two layers is compared against the library to identify a best fit to characterize the actual alignment. The results of the comparison may be used as an input for upstream and/or downstream process control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Agere Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Cynthia C. Lee, Stephen Arlon Meisner, Thomas Michael Wolf, Alberto Santoni, John Martin McIntosh
  • Overlay metrology using scatterometry profiling
    Publication number: 20030223066
    Abstract: A method for nondestructively characterizing alignment overlay between two layers of a semiconductor wafer. An incident beam of radiation is directed upon the wafer surface and the properties of the resulting diffracted beam are determined, in one embodiment as a function of wavelength or incident angle. The spectrally or angularly resolved characteristics of the diffracted beam are related to the alignment of the overlay features. A library of calculated diffraction spectra is established by modeling a full range of expected variations in overlay alignment. The spectra resulting from the inspection of an actual wafer having alignment targets in at least two layers is compared against the library to identify a best fit to characterize the actual alignment. The results of the comparison may be used as an input for upstream and/or downstream process control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Publication date: December 4, 2003
    Inventors: Cynthia C. Lee, Stephen Arlon Meisner, Thomas Michael Wolf, Alberto Santoni, John Martin McIntosh