David A Randall

US Patent:

6959251, Oct 25, 2005

Filed:

Nov 14, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/298389

Inventors:

David Bruce Coldren - San Jose CA, US
Prashant A. Aji - San Jose CA, US
David Winslow Randall - Redwood City CA, US
Sharon Marie McCauley - San Jose CA, US

Assignee:

KLA-Tencor Technologies, Corporation - Milpitas CA

International Classification:

G06F019/00
G06F017/50

US Classification:

702 83, 716 4

Abstract:

Techniques for efficiently setting up inspection, metrology, and review systems for operating upon semiconductor wafers are described. Specifically, this involves setting up recipes that allows each system to accurately inspect semiconductor wafers. The invention gathers pertinent information from these tools and presents the information to users in a way that greatly reduces the time required to complete a recipe. One system embodiment includes an inspection system and a review station that is communicatively linked such that the review station can read from and write to an entire set of data stored at the inspection system. The set of data includes image files of features detected by the inspection system.

US Patent:

7072786, Jul 4, 2006

Filed:

Sep 28, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/238357

Inventors:

David Bruce Coldren - San Jose CA, US
Prashant A. Aji - San Jose CA, US
David Winslow Randall - Redwood City CA, US
Sharon Marie McCauley - San Jose CA, US

Assignee:

KLA-Tencor Technologies, Corporation - Milpitas CA

International Classification:

G06F 19/00
G06K 9/00

US Classification:

702 83, 382145

Abstract:

Techniques for efficiently setting up inspection, metrology, and review systems for operating upon semiconductor wafers are described. Specifically, this involves setting up recipes that allows each system to accurately inspect semiconductor wafers. The invention gathers pertinent information from these tools and presents the information to users in a way that greatly reduces the time required to complete a recipe. One system embodiment includes an inspection system and a review station that is communicatively linked such that the review station can read from and write to an entire set of data stored at the inspection system. The set of data includes image files of features detected by the inspection system.

US Patent:

7142992, Nov 28, 2006

Filed:

Sep 30, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/954968

Inventors:

Patrick Huet - San Jose CA, US
Maruti Shanbhag - Bangalore, IN
Sandeep Bhagwat - Milpitas CA, US
Michal Kowalski - Santa Cruz CA, US
Vivekanand Kini - Sunnyvale CA, US
David Randall - Sunnyvale CA, US
Sharon McCauley - San Jose CA, US
Tong Huang - Sunnyvale CA, US
Jianxin Zhang - Santa Clara CA, US
Kenong Wu - Davis CA, US
Lisheng Gao - Morgan Hill CA, US
Ariel Tribble - Fremont CA, US
Ashok Kulkarni - San Jose CA, US
Cecelia Anne Campochiaro - Sunnyvale CA, US

Assignee:

KLA-Tencor Technologies Corp. - Milpitas CA

International Classification:

G01R 31/00
G06F 19/00

US Classification:

702 58

Abstract:

Hybrid methods for classifying defects in semiconductor manufacturing are provided. The methods include applying a flexible sequence of rules for defects to inspection data. The sequence of rules includes deterministic rules, statistical rules, hybrid rules, or some combination thereof. The rules included in the sequence may be selected by a user using a graphical interface. The method also includes classifying the defects based on results of applying the sequence of rules to the inspection data.