Patents by Inventor Qiang Q. Zhang

Qiang Q. Zhang 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).

  • Patent number: 11410830
    Abstract: A system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system includes a scanning electron microscopy sub-system including an electron source configured to generate an electron beam and an electron-optical assembly including one or more electron-optical elements configured to direct the electron beam to the specimen. In another embodiment, the system includes one or more grounding paths coupled to the specimen, the one or more grounding paths configured to generate one or more transmission signals based on one or more received electron beam-induced transmission currents. In another embodiment, the system includes a controller configured to: generate control signals configured to cause the scanning electron microscopy sub-system to scan the portion of the electron beam across a portion of the specimen; receive the transmission signals via the one or more grounding paths; and generate transmission current images based on the transmission signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: KLA Corporation
    Inventors: Hong Xiao, Lawrence Muray, Nick Petrone, John Gerling, Abdurrahman Sezginer, Alan D. Brodie, Kuljit Virk, Qiang Q. Zhang, Grace Hsiu-Ling Chen
  • Patent number: 11356594
    Abstract: A system for automated focus tracking of a sample is disclosed. The system comprises an illumination source, a set of illumination optics in an illumination path, a set of collection optics in a collection path, a first slit device in the illumination path, a second slit device in the collection path, at least one detector configured to generate an image of the sample, and a controller configured to receive through-focus information from the image, and provide corrective motion to a stage holding the sample to maintain a position of the sample at a selected focus. A method for automated focus tracking of a sample is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: KLA Corporation
    Inventors: Brooke Bruguier, Xiumei Liu, Qiang Q. Zhang, Stephen Taylor
  • Patent number: 9645093
    Abstract: An inspection system with selectable apodization includes a selectably configurable apodization device disposed along an optical pathway of an optical system. The apodization device includes one or more apodization elements operatively coupled to one or more actuation stages. The one or more actuation stages are configured to selectably actuate the one or more apodization elements along one or more directions. The inspection system includes a control system communicatively coupled to the one or more actuation stages. The control system is configured to selectably control an actuation state of at the one or more apodization elements so as to apply a selected apodization profile formed with the one or more apodization elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Jamie M. Sullivan, Gary Janik, Steve Cui, Rex Runyon, Dieter Wilk, Steve Short, Mikhail Haurylau, Qiang Q. Zhang, Grace Hsiu-Ling Chen, Robert M. Danen, Suwipin Martono, Shobhit Verma, Wenjian Cai, Meier Brender
  • Publication number: 20160054232
    Abstract: An inspection system with selectable apodization includes a selectably configurable apodization device disposed along an optical pathway of an optical system. The apodization device includes one or more apodization elements operatively coupled to one or more actuation stages. The one or more actuation stages are configured to selectably actuate the one or more apodization elements along one or more directions. The inspection system includes a control system communicatively coupled to the one or more actuation stages. The control system is configured to selectably control an actuation state of at the one or more apodization elements so as to apply a selected apodization profile formed with the one or more apodization elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Publication date: February 25, 2016
    Inventors: Jamie M. Sullivan, Gary Janik, Steve Cui, Rex Runyon, Dieter Wilk, Steve Short, Mikhail Haurylau, Qiang Q. Zhang, Grace Hsiu-Ling Chen, Robert M. Danen, Suwipin Martono, Shobhit Verma, Wenjian Cai, Meier Brender
  • Patent number: 9176069
    Abstract: An inspection system with selectable apodization includes an illumination source configured to illuminate a surface of a sample, a detector configured to detect at least a portion of light emanating from the surface of the sample, the illumination source and the detector being optically coupled via an optical pathway of an optical system, a selectably configurable apodization device disposed along the optical pathway, wherein the apodization device includes one or more apodization elements operatively coupled to one or more actuation stages configured to selectably actuate the one or more apodization elements along one or more directions, and a control system communicatively coupled to the one or more actuation and configured to selectably control apodization of illumination transmitted along the optical pathway by controlling an actuation state of the one or more apodization elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Jamie M. Sullivan, Gary Janik, Steve Cui, Rex Runyon, Dieter Wilk, Steve Short, Mikhail Haurylau, Qiang Q. Zhang, Grace Hsiu-Ling Chen, Robert M. Danen, Suwipin Martono, Shobhit Verma, Wenjian Cai, Meier Brender
  • Patent number: 8963110
    Abstract: The generation of EUV light includes rotating a cylinder at least partially coated with a plasma-forming target material, directing pulsed illumination to a first set of helically-arranged spots traversing a material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a first direction and directing pulsed illumination to a second set of helically-arranged spots traversing the material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a second direction, the pulsed illumination being suitable for exciting the plasma-forming target material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Layton Hale, Francis Chilese, Qiang Q. Zhang
  • Publication number: 20140374611
    Abstract: The generation of EUV light includes rotating a cylinder at least partially coated with a plasma-forming target material, directing pulsed illumination to a first set of helically-arranged spots traversing a material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a first direction and directing pulsed illumination to a second set of helically-arranged spots traversing the material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a second direction, the pulsed illumination being suitable for exciting the plasma-forming target material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Inventors: Layton Hale, Francis Chilese, Qiang Q. Zhang
  • Publication number: 20110060983
    Abstract: A method and system of producing a visual text summarization. According to the method, a plurality of topics may be extracted from a collection of text documents, where each of the topics comprises a distribution of topic keywords. An importance ranking for each of the topics may be determined, and an importance ranking for each of the topic keywords of a topic may also be determined. A graph may be displayed having a plurality of stacked layers representing a group of topics selected from the plurality of topics based on the importance ranking of the topics. A keyword cloud within each layer of the graph may also be displayed, where the one keyword cloud is a group of topic keywords selected from the extracted topic keywords based on the importance ranking of the extracted topic keywords.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2009
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Inventors: Wei Jia Cai, Xiao Xiao Lian, Shi Xia Liu, Shimei Pan, Wei Hong Qian, Yang Qiu Song, Qiang Q. Zhang, Michelle X. Zhou