Patents by Inventor Mark Allen Neil

Mark Allen Neil 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).

  • Publication number: 20240053280
    Abstract: Methods and systems for compensating systematic errors across a fleet of metrology systems based on a trained error evaluation model to improve matching of measurement results across the fleet are described herein. In one aspect, the error evaluation model is a machine learning based model trained based on a set of composite measurement matching signals. Composite measurement matching signals are generated based on measurement signals generated by each target measurement system and corresponding model-based measurement signals associated with each target measurement system and reference measurement system. The training data set also includes an indication of whether each target system is operating within specification, an indication of the values of system model parameter of each target system, or both.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Ming Di, Yih-Chung Chang, Xi Chen, Dawei Hu, Ce Xu, Bowei Huang, Igor Baskin, Mark Allen Neil, Tianhao Zhang, Malik Karman Sadiq, Shankar Krishnan, Jenching Tsai, Carlos L. Ygartua, Yao-Chung Tsao, Qiang Zhao
  • Patent number: 10386233
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture are provided for recovering a digitized spectrum and may comprise: an optical system configured to transform rays, the optical system including a diffraction grating, a steering mirror, a stage, and an actuator configured to move one of the stage, diffraction grating, or steering mirror according to a movement regime to vary an incidence of the rays on the stage; a sensor array disposed on the stage configured to receive the rays incident from the optical system at a plurality of measurement locations to obtain a plurality of ray spectra; and a processor electrically connected to the sensor array configured to receive the ray spectra, interleave the ray spectra to yield an interleaved spectrum, and deconvolve a point spread function corresponding to the optical system from the interleaved spectrum to yield a recovered digitized spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventor: Mark Allen Neil
  • Publication number: 20190212255
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture are provided for recovering a digitized spectrum and may comprise: an optical system configured to transform rays, the optical system including a diffraction grating, a steering mirror, a stage, and an actuator configured to move one of the stage, diffraction grating, or steering mirror according to a movement regime to vary an incidence of the rays on the stage; a sensor array disposed on the stage configured to receive the rays incident from the optical system at a plurality of measurement locations to obtain a plurality of ray spectra; and a processor electrically connected to the sensor array configured to receive the ray spectra, interleave the ray spectra to yield an interleaved spectrum, and deconvolve a point spread function corresponding to the optical system from the interleaved spectrum to yield a recovered digitized spectrum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Publication date: July 11, 2019
    Inventor: Mark Allen Neil
  • Patent number: 10141156
    Abstract: Methods and systems for performing measurements of multiple die with an array of electron beam columns are presented herein. The wafer is scanned in a direction parallel to the die rows disposed on the wafer. The electron beam measurement columns are spatially separated in a column alignment direction. The wafer is scanned in a direction that is oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the column alignment direction such that each electron beam column measures the same row of die features on different die during the same wafer pass. The wafer is oriented with respect to the array of electron beam columns by rotating the wafer, rotating the electron beam columns, or both. In further aspects, each measurement beam is deflected to correct alignment errors between each column and the corresponding die row to be measured and to correct wafer positioning errors reported by the wafer positioning system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Allen Neil, Frank Laske
  • Publication number: 20180090296
    Abstract: Methods and systems for performing measurements of multiple die with an array of electron beam columns are presented herein. The wafer is scanned in a direction parallel to the die rows disposed on the wafer. The electron beam measurement columns are spatially separated in a column alignment direction. The wafer is scanned in a direction that is oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the column alignment direction such that each electron beam column measures the same row of die features on different die during the same wafer pass. The wafer is oriented with respect to the array of electron beam columns by rotating the wafer, rotating the electron beam columns, or both. In further aspects, each measurement beam is deflected to correct alignment errors between each column and the corresponding die row to be measured and to correct wafer positioning errors reported by the wafer positioning system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventors: Mark Allen Neil, Frank Laske