Patents by Inventor Ian Thomas Kohl

Ian Thomas Kohl 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).

  • Inspecting a Workpiece Using Polarization of Scattered Light
    Publication number: 20120013898
    Abstract: A surface inspection system, as well as related components and methods, are provided. The surface inspection system includes a beam source subsystem, a beam scanning subsystem, a workpiece movement subsystem, an optical collection and detection subsystem, and a processing subsystem. The system features a variable polarization a polarizing relay assembly arranged to selectively permit the scattered light having a selected polarization orientation to pass along a detector optical axis to a light detection unit in the detection subsystem. The system also features a collector output width varying subsystem for varying the width of an output slit in response to changes in the location of the location scanned on the workpiece.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2011
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Neil Judell, Ian Thomas Kohl, Songping Gao, Richard Earl Bills
  • Inspecting a Workpiece Using Polarization of Scattered Light
    Publication number: 20100110420
    Abstract: A surface inspection system, as well as related components and methods, are provided. The surface inspection system includes a beam source subsystem, a beam scanning subsystem, a workpiece movement subsystem, an optical collection and detection subsystem, and a processing subsystem. The system features a variable polarization a polarizing relay assembly arranged to selectively permit the scattered light having a selected polarization orientation to pass along a detector optical axis to a light detection unit in the detection subsystem. They system also features a collector output width varying subsystem for varying the width of an output slit in response to changes in the location of the location scanned on the workpiece.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2009
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Applicant: KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Neil Judell, Ian Thomas Kohl, Songping Gao, Richard Earl Bills
  • System and method for inspecting a workpiece surface using polarization of scattered light
    Patent number: 7623227
    Abstract: A surface inspection system, as well as related components and methods, are provided. The surface inspection system includes a beam source subsystem, a beam scanning subsystem, a workpiece movement subsystem, an optical collection and detection subsystem, and a processing subsystem. The system features a variable polarization a polarizing relay assembly arranged to selectively permit the scattered light having a selected polarization orientation to pass along a detector optical axis to a light detection unit in the detection subsystem. They system also features a collector output width varying subsystem for varying the width of an output slit in response to changes in the location of the location scanned on the workpiece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Neil Judell, Ian Thomas Kohl, Songping Gao, Richard Earl Bills