Patents by Inventor Tom T. Ho

Tom T. Ho 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: 8190952
    Abstract: A system and method for defect analysis are disclosed wherein a defect data set is input into the system. A radius value is selected by a user, which is the maximum number of bits that bit failures can be separated from one another to be considered a bit cluster. When a defect data set is received, the system and method start with a fail bit and search for neighboring fail bits. The specified radius is used to qualify the found fail bits to be part of the bit cluster or not. If a minimum count of fail bits is not met, the system and method will stop searching and move to the next fail bit. If a minimum count of fail bits is met, the search continues for the next fail bit until the maximum fail bit count specified by the user is reached. Aggregation is provided such that once bit clusters have been classified, the number of clusters that have the exact match or partial match to each other is counted. The user may set the partial match as a threshold count to establish a match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tom T. Ho, Jonathan B. Buckheit, Weidong Wang, Xin Sun
  • Patent number: 7954018
    Abstract: A system and method for defect analysis of multi-level memory cell devices and embedded multi-level memory in system-on-chip integrated circuits are disclosed wherein a defect data set is input into the system. When a defect data set is received, an automated test engineering system running a memory test program analyzes the defect data set to generate one or more fail bit locations and one or more fail states of the memory. The multi-level memory defect analysis system and method then classify failed bits or patterns comprising a vertical fail pattern, whereby after being classified, each memory cell failure vertical fail pattern has three data attributes comprising fail type, a number of fail bits/states, and a sequence of the fail states. The vertical fail pattern may comprise a single fail state or multi-state fail. The multi-state fail may be a continuous-states fail, discontinuous-states fail, or all-state fail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Rudolph Technologies, Inc
    Inventors: Tom T. Ho, Jonathan B. Buckheit, Weidong Wang
  • Publication number: 20100235690
    Abstract: A system and method for defect analysis are disclosed wherein a defect data set is input into the system. A radius value is selected by a user, which is the maximum number of bits that bit failures can be separated from one another to be considered a bit cluster. When a defect data set is received, the system and method start with a fail bit and search for neighboring fail bits. The specified radius is used to qualify the found fail bits to be part of the bit cluster or not. If a minimum count of fail bits is not met, the system and method will stop searching and move to the next fail bit. If a minimum count of fail bits is met, the search continues for the next fail bit until the maximum fail bit count specified by the user is reached. Aggregation is provided such that once bit clusters have been classified, the number of clusters that have the exact match or partial match to each other is counted. The user may set the partial match as a threshold count to establish a match.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: MKS Instruments, Inc.
    Inventors: Tom T. Ho, Jonathan B. Buckheit, Weidong Wang, Xin Sun
  • Patent number: 7685481
    Abstract: A system and method for defect analysis are disclosed wherein a defect data set is input into the system. A radius value is selected by a user, which is the maximum number of bits that bit failures can be separated from one another to be considered a bit cluster. When a defect data set is received, the system and method start with a fail bit and search for neighboring fail bits. The specified radius is used to qualify the found fail bits to be part of the bit cluster or not. If a minimum count of fail bits is not met, the system and method will stop searching and move to the next fail bit. If a minimum count of fail bits is met, the search continues for the next fail bit until the maximum fail bit count specified by the user is reached. Aggregation is provided such that once bit clusters have been classified, the number of clusters that have the exact match or partial match to each other is counted. The user may set the partial match as a threshold count to establish a match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: MKS Instruments, Inc.
    Inventors: Tom T. Ho, Jonathan B. Buckheit, Weidong Wang, Xin Sun
  • Publication number: 20080189582
    Abstract: A system and method for defect analysis of multi-level memory cell devices and embedded multi-level memory in system-on-chip integrated circuits are disclosed wherein a defect data set is input into the system. When a defect data set is received, an automated test engineering system running a memory test program analyzes the defect data set to generate one or more fail bit locations and one or more fail states of the memory. The multi-level memory defect analysis system and method then classify failed bits or patterns comprising a vertical fail pattern, whereby after being classified, each memory cell failure vertical fail pattern has three data attributes comprising fail type, a number of fail bits/states, and a sequence of the fail states. The vertical fail pattern may comprise a single fail state or multi-state fail. The multi-state fail may be a continuous-states fail, discontinuous-states fail, or all-state fail.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Publication date: August 7, 2008
    Inventors: Tom T. Ho, Jonathan B. Buckheit, Weldong Wang