Patents by Inventor Robert A. Comstock

Robert A. Comstock 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).

  • Monitoring changes in photomask defectivity
    Patent number: 9892503
    Abstract: A reticle that is within specifications is inspected to generate baseline candidate defects and their location and size. After using the reticle in photolithography, the reticle is inspected to generate current candidate defects and their location and size. An inspection report of filtered candidate defects and their images is generated so that these candidate defects include a first subset of the current candidate defects and their images and exclude a second subset of the current candidate defects and their images. Each of the first subset of candidate defects has a location and size that fails to match any baseline candidate defect's location and size, and each of the excluded second subset of candidate defects has a location and size that matches a baseline candidate defect's location and size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Chun Guan, Yalin Xiong, Joseph M. Blecher, Robert A. Comstock, Mark J. Wihl
  • MONITORING CHANGES IN PHOTOMASK DEFECTIVITY
    Publication number: 20170053395
    Abstract: A reticle that is within specifications is inspected to generate baseline candidate defects and their location and size. After using the reticle in photolithography, the reticle is inspected to generate current candidate defects and their location and size. An inspection report of filtered candidate defects and their images is generated so that these candidate defects include a first subset of the current candidate defects and their images and exclude a second subset of the current candidate defects and their images. Each of the first subset of candidate defects has a location and size that fails to match any baseline candidate defect's location and size, and each of the excluded second subset of candidate defects has a location and size that matches a baseline candidate defect's location and size.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2016
    Publication date: February 23, 2017
    Applicant: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Chun Guan, Yalin Xiong, Joseph M. Blecher, Robert A. Comstock, Mark J. Wihl
  • Monitoring changes in photomask defectivity
    Patent number: 9518935
    Abstract: A reticle that is within specifications is inspected so as to generate a baseline event indicating a location and a size value for each unusual reticle feature. After using the reticle in photolithography, the reticle is inspected so as to generate a current event indicating a location and a size value for each unusual reticle feature. An inspection report of candidate defects and their images is generated so that these candidate defects include a first subset of the current events and their corresponding candidate defect images and exclude a second subset of the current events and their corresponding excluded images. Each of the first included events has a location and size value that fails to match any baseline event's location and size value, and each of the excluded second events has a location and size value that matches a baseline event's location and size value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Chun Guan, Yalin Xiong, Joseph M. Blecher, Robert A. Comstock, Mark J. Wihl
  • MONITORING CHANGES IN PHOTOMASK DEFECTIVITY
    Publication number: 20150029498
    Abstract: A reticle that is within specifications is inspected so as to generate a baseline event indicating a location and a size value for each unusual reticle feature. After using the reticle in photolithography, the reticle is inspected so as to generate a current event indicating a location and a size value for each unusual reticle feature. An inspection report of candidate defects and their images is generated so that these candidate defects include a first subset of the current events and their corresponding candidate defect images and exclude a second subset of the current events and their corresponding excluded images. Each of the first included events has a location and size value that fails to match any baseline event's location and size value, and each of the excluded second events has a location and size value that matches a baseline event's location and size value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2014
    Publication date: January 29, 2015
    Applicant: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Chun Guan, Yalin Xiong, Joseph M. Blecher, Robert A. Comstock, Mark J. Wihl