| HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120134895 | SPECIMEN PROCESSING SYSTEM - Disclosed is a specimen processing system that includes means | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120134559 | PARTICLE IMAGE ANALYSIS APPARATUS - The particle analysis apparatus includes means that perform processes upon image processing of images ( | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120133492 | ARTICLE CONVEYING SYSTEM AND SAMPLE PROCESSING SYSTEM - An object of the present invention is to provide a sample processing system, wherein writing to each RFID is equalized to eliminate unevenness in the use of sample containers. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120132803 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE AND IMAGE DISPLAY METHOD - According to the present invention, in a charged particle beam device having a charged particle source, an objective lens for focusing a primary-charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle source, a scan deflector for scanning the primary-charged particle beam on a sample, and a detector for detecting signal particles generated from the sample under scanning of the primary-charged particle beam, whereby a sample image is obtained by using the signal particles of the detector, the charged particle beam device comprises a deflector for deflecting an angle of irradiation of the primary-charged particle beam onto the sample, first and second independent power supplies for passing currents to the deflector, and a switch for switching over voltages applied from the two power supplies in unit of one line or one frame of scanning of the primary-charged particle beam. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120131529 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEFECT CLASSIFYING METHOD, SEMICONDUCTOR DEFECT CLASSIFYING APPARATUS, AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEFECT CLASSIFYING PROGRAM - A defect is efficiently and effectively classified by accurately determining the state of overlap between a design layout pattern and the defect. This leads to simple identification of a systematic defect. A defective image obtained through defect inspection or review of a semiconductor device is automatically pattern-matched with design layout data. A defect is superimposed on a design layout pattern for at least one layer of a target layer, a layer immediately above the target layer, and a layer immediately below the target layer. The state of overlap of the defect is determined as within the pattern, over the pattern, or outside the pattern, and the defect is automatically classified. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120129673 | CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATOR - The weight difference is limited between buckets ( | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120128534 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer has a noncontact identification medium with an antenna, a communication device for communicating with the noncontact identification medium, a container for containing a liquid, and a container holding mechanism in which the container is to be placed, the antenna being placed in an asymmetric position relative to the container. The automatic analyzer includes an identification mechanism. When the noncontact identification medium provided for the container cannot communicate with the communication device, the identification mechanism moves the container a predetermined distance by driving the container holding mechanism, causes the noncontact identification medium to communicate with the communication device, and identifies an orientation of the container placed in the container holding mechanism. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120128533 | LIQUID SUPPLY DEVICE USING CHECK VALVE AND REACTIVE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY SYSTEM - It is possible to correctly determine whether a change in the pressure or flow rate is caused by normal opening and closing operations of a check valve and to monitor in real time whether an operation of a check valve is normal or abnormal in a liquid supply device. Light is introduced in the check valve and a change in the quantity of light transmitted through or reflected by the check valve, caused by the opening and closing of the valve is detected, so that the opening and closing operations of the check valve can be directly detected. The check valve is arranged in a pipe in the liquid supply device, and a change in the pressure in the pipe is monitored on the basis of a signal from a pressure sensor and a signal which represents the opening and closing of the check valve. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120127469 | FLOW CELL, DETECTOR, AND LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH - In a liquid chromatograph, a flow cell, in which a direction of detecting light and a flow direction of a sample fluid are parallel to each other, and in which the flow direction of the sample fluid changes at the moment of the sample fluid flowing out of a detecting portion into an outflow channel and at the moment of the sample fluid flowing into the detecting portion from an inflow channel, is capable of suppressing a peak broadening of a chromatogram. A plurality of outflow channels are provided, which shorten a distance between a flow outlet and a flow bend in the sample flow. A plurality of inflow channels are also provided, some of which collide jets flowing into the detecting portion from the inflow channels and others of which produce a swirl of jets flowing into the detecting portion from the inflow channels. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120126146 | ION MILLING DEVICE - Disclosed is a shield ( | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120126119 | Charged-Particle-Beam Device - To automatically measure patterns arranged symmetrically with respect to the axis of rotation on a sample by following predetermined procedures, a charged-particle-beam device of the present invention automatically rotates a template image to be used for template matching by an angle (θ | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120126116 | PATTERN SHAPE SELECTION METHOD AND PATTERN MEASURING DEVICE - The present invention has an object to propose a method and an apparatus for selecting a pattern shape, wherein, when estimating a shape based on comparison between an actual waveform and a library, the method and the apparatus can appropriately estimate the shape. As an embodiment to achieve the object, a method and an apparatus for selecting a pattern shape by comparing an obtained shape with pattern shapes memorized in the library are proposed, wherein plural pieces of waveform information are obtained under a plurality of waveform acquiring conditions based on radiation of a charged particle beam onto a specimen; and a pattern shape memorized in the library is selected by referring, with respect to the plural pieces of waveform information, to a library memorizing plural pieces of waveform information acquired under different waveform acquiring conditions for each of a plurality of pattern shapes. | 05-24-2012 |
| 20120121465 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer having a reaction vessel in which an analyte is caused to react with a reagent; a probe for suctioning the reacted analyte from the reaction vessel; an analyzer unit for analyzing the reacted analyte; a transfer channel for transferring the reacted analyte suctioned by the probe to the analyzer unit | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120121464 | APPARATUS FOR PRETREATING BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES, AND MASS SPECTROMETER EQUIPPED WITH SAME - A clinical laboratory apparatus includes a pretreating apparatus having a high separation capability and providing high data reproducibility and reliability and a mass spectrometer is provided which executes fully automatic processing from pretreatment to detection. The pretreating apparatus that includes a cartridge for holding an extraction agent for solid-phase extraction, a pressure-loading unit for applying a pressure load to any cartridge mounted on the solid-phase extraction cartridge-retaining unit, a receiving tray mechanism for receiving a sample extracted from the cartridge, and a liquid-level sensor for detecting liquid levels in the receiving tray as well as in the cartridge, conducts feedback control for the pressure-loading unit to open its pressure release valve upon the liquid-level sensor detecting that the liquid level in the receiving tray mechanism has reached a preset liquid-level position. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120121160 | METHOD OF CREATING TEMPLATE FOR MATCHING, AS WELL AS DEVICE FOR CREATING TEMPLATE - Disclosed is a method wherein a template for template matching is created with high accuracy and high efficiency. With respect to each individual pattern constituting a basic circuit, pattern information regarding a plurality of layers in a semiconductor device is stored in a library. On the basis of the designation of the position and the layer, pattern information regarding the designated position and layer is extracted from the pattern information stored in the library. A template is created on the basis of the extracted pattern information. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120119087 | CHARGED-PARTICLE MICROSCOPE - A charged-particle-beam device is characterized in having a control value for an aligner coil ( | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120119086 | GAS FIELD ION SOURCE, CHARGED PARTICLE MICROSCOPE, AND APPARATUS - A gas field ion source that can simultaneously increase a conductance during rough vacuuming and reduce an extraction electrode aperture diameter from the viewpoint of the increase of ion current. The gas field ion source has a mechanism to change a conductance in vacuuming a gas molecule ionization chamber. That is, the conductance in vacuuming a gas molecule ionization chamber is changed in accordance with whether or not an ion beam is extracted from the gas molecule ionization chamber. By forming lids as parts of the members constituting the mechanism to change the conductance with a bimetal alloy, the conductance can be changed in accordance with the temperature of the gas molecule ionization chamber, for example the conductance is changed to a relatively small conductance at a relatively low temperature and to a relatively large conductance at a relatively high temperature. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120119085 | SPECIMEN POTENTIAL MEASURING METHOD, AND CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE - The present invention has an object to perform specimen charge measurement or focusing at a high speed and with high precision also for a specimen in which fixed charge and induced charge may be mixedly present. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120114526 | AUTOMATED ANALYZER - Disclosed is an automated analyzer intended for qualitative/quantitative analysis of blood, urine, and other biological samples, and including a reagent disk for mounting a plurality of reagent containers thereon, wherein any errors in liquid-level measurement due to oscillation of a reagent liquid surface during rotation of the reagent disk are minimized, even when reagent containers of a large capacity are mounted. If a predetermined constant cycle time is defined as one unit, the reagent disk with reagent containers mounted thereon is transported to a liquid-level detection position using at least two units when a liquid level of a reagent is measured. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120114525 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - Photomultiplier tubes differ in performance between individual products, and deteriorate over time. To appropriately use a nonlinear calibration curve, it is desirable that changes in signal level be strictly equalized. This invention includes means for, prior to sensitivity adjustment of a photomultiplier tube by application of high voltages, measuring a same sample under a plurality of high-voltage conditions, determining, from linear relationships between logarithms of each high voltage and those of signal levels, an optimal voltage for a measuring operation of predetermined order of execution in the plurality of measuring operations, and recording identification information for identifying each linear relationship; the invention assessing a healthiness level of the photomultiplier tube by assessing the linear relationship. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120114222 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VISUAL INSPECTION - In the case of die-to-die comparison, threshold processing units process the differential image between the image of a sample chip and the images of left and right adjacent chips using a second threshold value lower than a first threshold value thereby to determine a defect candidate for the sample chip. Further, threshold processing units process the differential image using the first threshold value. The defect candidates which develops a signal not smaller than the first threshold is detected as a defect. Also in the cell-to-cell comparison, the differential image is first processed by the second threshold value to determine a defect candidate, and the differential image is further processed by the first threshold value. The defect candidates which develops a signal not smaller than the first threshold value is detected as a defect. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120114221 | PATTERN DEFECT ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT, PATTERN DEFECT ANALYSIS METHOD AND PATTERN DEFECT ANALYSIS PROGRAM - A data processing unit acquires a review image including a pattern defect on a substrate, compares the review image with a reference image thereby to extract a defect image, the reference image including no pattern defect, and performs an alignment between the review image and a self-layer design pattern image which is generated from design data belonging to the identical layer in a region corresponding to the review image. The data processing unit, then, based on result of the alignment, generates an another-layer design pattern image which is generated from design data belonging to another layer in the region corresponding to the review image, and, based on a synthesized image of the defect image and the another-layer design pattern image, determines the relative position relationship between the pattern defect and a pattern belonging to another layer, and judges the criticality based on the relative position relationship. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120112059 | MASS SPECTROMETER AND MASS SPECTROMETRY METHOD - An object is to measure both cations and anions with high duty cycle. In a mass spectrometer comprising an ion source ( | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120109534 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER AND ANALYSIS METHOD - In known automatic analyzers for detecting an abnormality by approximating reaction process data using a function, accuracy of detecting a reaction abnormality is degraded because of poor approximation accuracy depending on test items. Data processing means stores the absorbance and time of day at which the absorbance is measured as time-series data. Letting x denote absorbance, t denote time, and * denote a symbol representing multiplication, we have a function x=a | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120107180 | CHEMICAL ANALYZER - An automatic chemical analyzer in which a reaction solution is stirred by air ejected from an air ejection hole placed above a reaction container. The reaction region can be washed and cleaned sufficiently without causing damage, such as exfoliation of a coating reagent. A reaction container disk | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106826 | PATTERN SHAPE EVALUATION METHOD AND PATTERN SHAPE EVALUATION APPARATUS - An image of the joint portion of circuit patterns manufactured using a design pattern for double patterning is read out. Target boundary lines and evaluation regions are set on the image. In the evaluation regions, image processing is performed along the directions of the target boundary lines. Furthermore, binarization processing is performed. A decision is made based on an image obtained in this way as to whether the patterns have defects. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120104253 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM MICROSCOPE AND MEASURING METHOD USING SAME - A charged particle beam device is equipped with a function of: obtaining an approximation function of a sample drift from a visual field shift amount among plural images (S | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120099781 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF PATTERN INSPECTION AND SEMICONDUCTOR INSPECTION SYSTEM USING THE SAME - A pattern inspection apparatus can be provided, for example, in a scanning electron microscope system. When patterns of a plurality of layers are included in a SEM image, the apparatus separates the patterns according to each layer by using design data of the plurality of layers corresponding to the patterns. Consequently, the apparatus can realize inspection with use of only the pattern of a target layer to be inspected, pattern inspection differently for different layers, or detection of a positional offset between the layers. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120092657 | METHOD OF DEFECT INSPECTION AND DEVICE OF DEFECT INSPECTION - A method of inspecting defects and a device inspecting defects of detecting defects at high sensitivity and high capture efficiency even on various patterns existing on a wafer. In the device of inspecting defects, an illumination optical system is formed of two systems of a coherent illumination of a laser | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120091362 | CHARGED PARTICLE RADIATION DEVICE - Disclosed is a high resolution and high throughput charged particle radiation device that attenuates the natural vibration of an ion pump in a short time, excited by a reaction force at the time of driving the stage, and prevents occurrence of a loop of force and a loop of current. The charged particle radiation device includes a sample chamber ( | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120091339 | CHARGED-PARTICLE MICROSCOPE DEVICE, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING CHARGED-PARTICLE BEAMS - A charged-particle microscope device and a method of controlling charged-particle beams are provided, which are capable of signal detection at the time when the charged state of an observation sample or a defect portion becomes optimum. Charge accumulation-waiting time T from an initial irradiation with an electron beam | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120090056 | MICROCONTACT PROBER - The stress due to contact between a probe and a measurement sample is improved when using a microcontact prober having a conductive nanotube, nanowire, or nanopillar probe, the insulating layer at the contact interface is removed, thereby the contact resistance is reduced, and the performance of semiconductor device examination is improved. The microcontact prober comprises a cantilever probe in which each cantilever is provided with a nanowire, nanopillar, or a metal-coated carbon nanotube probe projecting by 50 to 100 nm from a holder provided at the fore end and a vibrating mechanism for vibrating the cantilever horizontally with respect to the subject. The fore end of the holder may project from the free end of the cantilever, and the fore end of the holder can be checked from above the cantilever. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120085925 | CHARGED PARTICLE RADIATION DEVICE - An electron gun that serves to reduce the quantity of electron stimulated desorption and accomplishes vacuum evacuation efficiently with a sufficient degree of vacuum. An electron source | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120080516 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER WITH THE FUNCTION OF RENDERING REAGENT INFORMATION UNREADABLE - The invention provides an automatic analyzer suitable for efficient reagent management. The analyzer allows continued use of existing reagent information storage media because reagent ID information that is no longer needed is overwritten so that it is unrecognizable to any analyzer. The invention relates to a method for automatically analyzing particular properties of an analyte by putting the analyte and a reagent into a vessel and measuring the reacted analyte-reagent mixture. The analyzer of the invention comprises: an information reader/writer for reading or writing regent information to/from storage media attached to reagent vessels; means for managing reagent information read from the storage media; means for processing reagents based on the managed information; and means for overwriting reagent information that has been judged unnecessary based on the managed information so that the unnecessary information is unrecognizable to any analyzer. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120076349 | FLOW TYPE PARTICLE IMAGE ANALYSIS METHOD AND DEVICE - At each of mutually different multiple focal positions, focal adjustment parameter values are obtained from images of standard particles made of the same substance. Each focal adjustment parameter value is figured out as any one of the ratio between the density value around the center of the standard particle image and the density value around the outline, the difference therebetween, and the density value around the center. The in-focus position is adjusted on the basis of the relationship between the obtained focal adjustment parameter values and the focal positions. Moreover, on the basis of the relationship between the focal adjustment parameter values and the focal positions, the parameter values are converted into focal positions, and the focal positions and dispersion thereof are used to check the displacement of the in-focus position and the thickness of the sample liquid. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120075738 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD FOR MAGNETIC HEAD OR MAGNETIC DISK AND INSPECTION METHOD FOR MAGNETIC HEAD - An inspection apparatus and method for a magnetic head or a magnetic disk is conducted using a two-carriage method. In particular, the magnetic disk is rotated by a spindle, a test signal is written into the magnetic disk by one magnetic head mounted in one carriage which moves in the radius direction of the magnetic disk, and the test signal of the magnetic disk is read by the other magnetic head mounted in the other carriage which moves in the radius direction of the magnetic disk to inspect the performance of the magnetic head or the magnetic disk using the read signal. The sector pulses to determine servo timing at which servo burst signals preliminarily written into the disk are read are formed on the basis of a clock signal and an index signal generated along with the rotation of the spindle. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120075624 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING MAGNETIC DISK - In magnetic disk inspection, it is made possible to perform the total operation in which magnetic disks taken out from a cassette are inspected on both surfaces thereof, classified by the grades according to the inspection results and returned again to corresponding cassettes, while maintaining high throughput. To achieve such inspection, a plurality of uninspected boards are put on a plurality of corresponding rotation-drive portions at a plurality of corresponding board taking-out and supply positions in a magnetic disk inspection apparatus and are transferred to a plurality of corresponding inspection positions. The boards are optically inspected while rotating. The optically inspected boards are transferred to the plurality of corresponding board taking-out and supply positions and the plurality of transferred boards are taken out. The taken-out boards are sorted according to the optical inspection results and stored in the corresponding cassettes into which inspected boards are stored. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120070343 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer includes a plurality of reagent disks having reagent containers thereon, a reaction disk having a plurality of reaction cuvettes and a plurality of reagent dispensing probes arranged on each of the reagent disks. Each of the dispensing probes includes a first arm rotatable about a first rotary shaft and a second arm rotatable about a second rotary shaft arranged on the first arm with the arms being rotatable independently of each other. A mechanism analyzes reactions of the reagents and samples in the cuvettes. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120070066 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE AND EVALUATION METHOD USING THE CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE - The charged particle beam device has a problem that a symmetry of equipotential distribution is disturbed near the outer edge of a specimen, an object being evaluated, causing a charged particle beam to deflect there. An electrode plate installed inside the specimen holding mechanism of electrostatic attraction type is formed of an inner and outer electrode plates arranged concentrically. The outer electrode plate is formed to have an outer diameter larger than that of the specimen. The dimensions of the electrode plates are determined so that an overlapping area of the outer electrode plate and the specimen is substantially equal to an area of the inner electrode plate. The inner electrode plate is impressed with a voltage of a positive polarity with respect to a reference voltage and of an arbitrary magnitude, and the outer electrode is impressed with a voltage of a negative polarity and of an arbitrary magnitude. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120065898 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - To change a photometric time for each item or to change a measurement time for each specimen so that time required for biochemical measurement can be reduced, an index that indicates an end of a reaction is required. Unfortunately, however, no methods have been available for determining the end of the reaction. In measuring a substance to be measured contained in a sample, a parameter in an approximate expression is calculated using a measured value that changes with time, a degree of convergence of a reaction is determined according to a degree of convergence of the parameter, and a measured value at the end of the reaction is calculated using the parameter at a point in time at which it is determined that the reaction has converged. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120064636 | AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS DEVICE AND ANALYSIS METHOD - Provided are an automated analyzer and an automatic analysis method for highly accurately determining presence or absence of abnormality based on reaction process data obtained when concentration of a chemical component or an activity level of an enzyme is measured. The reaction process data is approximated by a function, and shape feature quantities indicating features of a shape of a curve section at an early stage of reaction are calculated. The obtained shape feature quantities are used to determine the presence or absence of abnormality. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120062890 | Method and Its Apparatus for Inspecting Particles or Defects of a Semiconductor Device - Conventionally, a particle/defect inspection apparatus outputs a total number of detected particles/defects as the result of detection. For taking countermeasures to failures in manufacturing processes, the particles/defects detected by the inspection apparatus are analyzed. Since the inspection apparatus outputs a large number of detected particles/defects, an immense time is required for analyzing the detected particles/defects, resulting in a delay in taking countermeasures to a failure in the manufacturing processes. In the present invention, an apparatus for optically inspecting particles or defects relates a particle or defect size to a cause of failure in an inspection result. A data processing circuit points out a cause of failure from the statistics on the inspection result, and displays information on the inspection result. A failure analysis is conducted by setting a threshold for identifying a failure in each of regions on a semiconductor device or the like to statistically evaluate detected particles. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120061566 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - An object of the present invention is to provide a scanning electron microscope suitable for monitoring apparatus conditions of the microscope itself, irrespective of the presence of charge-up, specimen inclination, and the like. In order to achieve the object, proposed is a scanning electron microscope including a function to monitor the apparatus conditions on the basis of information obtained with an electron beam reflected before reaching a specimen. Specifically, for example, while applying a negative voltage to the specimen to reflect the electron beam before the electron beam reaches the specimen, and simultaneously supplying a predetermined signal to a deflector for alignment, the scanning electron microscope monitors changes of the detected positions of the reflected electrons of the electron beam. If the above-mentioned predetermined signal is under the condition where an alignment is properly performed, the changes of the detected positions of the electrons reflect deviation of an axis. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120061565 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE AND SAMPLE OBSERVATION METHOD - Disclosed is a charged particle beam device, wherein multibeam secondary electron detectors ( | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120058568 | LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH AND ANALYSIS METHOD - It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid chromatograph which, in a high performance liquid chromatograph analysis using a post-column method, can maintain mixing precision of a sample eluted from a column and a reaction reagent without a special mixing and reacting portion, prevent diffusion of a target component, and perform measurement with high sensitivity. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120058009 | ANALYZER - An analyzer includes a pretreatment device and a mass spectrometer. The pretreatment device includes a solid phase extraction mechanism. The mass spectrometer performs mass spectrometry on a sample pretreated by the pretreatment device and then subjected to ionization. The analyzer also includes a storage unit that stores data on dependence of signal intensities of the analyte substance to be measured and the internal standard upon the concentration of a substance inhibiting ionization in the sample, and that stores data on a recovery rate. The analyzer also includes a correcting unit that corrects measurement results of the sample and the internal standard on the basis of the data stored in the storage unit. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120057774 | PATTERN GENERATING APPARATUS AND PATTERN SHAPE EVALUATING APPARATUS - Although there has been a method for evaluating pattern shapes of electronic devices by using, as a reference pattern, design data or a non-defective pattern, the conventional method has a problem that the pattern shape cannot be evaluated with high accuracy because of the difficulty in defining an exact shape suitable for the manufacturing conditions of the electronic devices. The present invention provides a shape evaluation method for circuit patterns of electronic devices, the method including a means for generating contour distribution data of at least two circuit patterns from contour data sets on the circuit patterns; a means for generating a reference pattern used for the pattern shape evaluation, from the contour distribution data; and a means for evaluating the pattern shape by comparing each evaluation target pattern with the reference pattern. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120055581 | LIQUID DELIVERY DEVIDE AND LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY DEVICE - In a liquid delivery device, when an inlet-side check valve and an outlet-side check valve of a first cylinder are both closed, and compression of an eluent inside the first cylinder is started by means of a first plunger inside the first cylinder, a control unit doubles the rotational speed of a step motor, and measures the amount of change in the pressure inside the first cylinder which changes for a prescribed time by means of a first cylinder internal pressure detector. The time elapsed until the pressure inside the first cylinder is the same as the pressure inside a discharge-side flow passage is predicted using the rate of change over time of the pressure of the eluent. When the predicted elapsed time has elapsed, the rotational speed of the step motor is returned to the original speed, and the compression of the eluent inside the first cylinder is completed. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120046885 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND ITS APPARATUS - The present invention provides an optical inspection method capable of detecting a finer defect in the surface of a substrate, including the steps of: irradiating a surface of a sample which is rotating and continuously moving in one direction with illumination light which is incident in a direction obliquely to the sample surface; detecting an image of light formed by a forward scattering light around an optical axis of regular-reflection light while excluding the regular-reflection light from the sample surface irradiated with the illumination light; condensing and detecting lateral scattering light which scatters laterally from the sample surface with respect to an incidence direction of the illumination light; and processing a signal obtained by detecting the image of light formed by the forward scattering light and a signal obtained by condensing and detecting the lateral scattering light to extract a defect including a scratch defect. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120046884 | SURFACE INSPECTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CALIBRATING SAME - While an illumination optical system | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120039771 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER AND SAMPLE TREATMENT APPARATUS - A sample treatment apparatus is designed to directly monitor a pressure signal from a pressure sensor to examine pressure fluctuations resulting from a sample's sway before a discharge of the sample, so that the discharge is performed after the confirmation of the absence of pressure changes. The apparatus has a detection function that allows a discharge to be started even before a pressure fluctuation vanishes completely, by allowing the operator to set a desired number of pressure monitorings, monitoring time, or pressure amplitude. The detection function also allows an alarm to be raised when a pressure fluctuation has not fallen within a given range. The sample treatment apparatus therefore allows discharge of more accurate amounts of samples. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120039748 | AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS APPARATUS - An automatic analysis apparatus capable of testing a plurality of items with high accuracy and at low cost without increasing the size of the apparatus is provided. An automatic analysis apparatus | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120038071 | OPTICAL IMPRINTING METHOD AND DEVICE - In an optical imprinting method, after pressing a mold with a mold pressing mechanism detachably holding a mold against a resist applied to a transferred body to firmly attach the mold to the transferred body and detaching the mold from the mold pressing mechanism, arranging a UV light source above the up side surface of the laminated body of the mold and irradiating UV light to cure the resist. Then, after completing the resist curing, retracting the mold and the transferred body from the UV light source and separating the mold from the transferred body. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120036944 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - The present invention provides an automatic analyzer, in which when a specimen that cannot be analyzed due to an abnormality or needs to be remeasured exists, the automatic analyzer can swiftly reload the specimen that cannot be analyzed due to the abnormality or needs to be remeasured without waiting for completion of a measurement of another specimen held by a rack holding the specimen that cannot be analyzed or needs to be remeasured. The automatic analyzer has means for storing information of a rack loaded in the analyzer and specimen information, displaying identification information of the rack loaded in the analyzer to a user, specifying a specimen that needs to be reanalyzed due to an abnormality or needs to be collected for a remeasurement, interrupting analysis of a specimen rack holding the specimen, and collecting the specimen rack. The automatic analyzer can collect and reload the specified specimen. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120026622 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING MAGNETIC DISK - In order to enable a highly-sensitive certifying test by detecting a signal with a high S/N ratio while controlling the glide height of a magnetic head to be optimized at the time of the certifying test, a method for inspecting a magnetic disk by conducting the certifying test for the magnetic disk using the magnetic head incorporating a heater includes: writing data into the magnetic disk using the magnetic head; and reading the data written into the magnetic disk using the magnetic head. Electric power applied to the heater incorporated in the magnetic head is switched between when writing the data and when reading the data. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20120025986 | WORK DIRECTION DETERMINING METHOD AND DEVICE, AND WORK PROVIDED WITH DIRECTION DETERMINING FUNCTION - A work direction determining device includes a passive tag type IC tag secured at a predetermined position on the front surface thereof. The IC tag includes a substrate, an IC module and an antenna coil disposed on the substrate in an offset manner. The device includes an antenna communicating with the IC tag, and a determination circuit. Where the work and the direction determining device are located at respective predetermined communication positions, communication is done between the antenna of the direction determining device and the antenna coil of the IC tag, and the magnitude of communication intensity during the communication is determined by the determination circuit to thereby determine a direction of the work. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20120025741 | CHARGED PARTICLE ACCELERATOR - In a charged particle accelerator, voltage of several tens of kV is applied between accelerating electrodes. In such a case, electric discharge is sometimes generated between the accelerating electrodes. In the charged particle accelerator, part or entirety of the accelerating electrodes is coated with an electric discharge suppressing layer made of ceramics or alloy having a high melting point as compared with metal. When impurity fine particles are accelerated by an electric field and collide with the electrodes, the electric discharge suppressing layer made of ceramics or alloy prevents metal vapor from being easily generated from the electrodes and an ionized plasma from being easily produced, thus suppressing electric discharge between the electrodes. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20120020838 | AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS DEVICE AND DISPENSING DEVICE - An automatic analysis device | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120019816 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS - The present invention provides a spatial filtering technology for exposing a defect image independently of polarization properties of defect scattered light, a defect inspection method for increasing a defect capture rate by suppressing the brightness saturation of a normal pattern, and a defect inspection apparatus that uses the defect inspection method. An array of spatial filters is disposed in one or more optical paths, which are obtained by polarizing and splitting a detection optical path, to filter diffracted light and scattered light emitted from the normal pattern. An image whose brightness saturation is suppressed is obtained by controlling an illumination light amount and/or detection efficiency during image detection in accordance with the amount of scattered light from the normal pattern. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120007280 | FINE-STRUCTURE TRANSFER METHOD - A fine-structure transfer method in which a fine-featured pattern formed on one of the two surfaces of a stamper is pressed against a coating of a resist on one of the two surfaces of a transfer element so as to transfer the fine-featured pattern to the resist coating, wherein the atmosphere in the space between the stamper and the transfer element is replaced by the vapor of the resist before the stamper is pressed against the transfer element. | 01-12-2012 |
| 20120004879 | CHARGED PARTICLE APPARATUS, SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE, AND SAMPLE INSPECTION METHOD - An object of the invention is to be able to select easily and quickly inspection recipes which are appropriate to samples from any number of inspection recipes. A calculating device displays a plurality of inspection recipes on the GUI. An inspection recipe includes settings for controlling charged particle columns which irradiate charged particles on samples with a plurality of characteristics. Plural inspection recipes are arranged and displayed on a coordinate system which is specified by a plurality of axes having characteristic values (robustness variable of charge up, throughput of defect inspection, and accuracy of defect inspection) which have mutually trade-off relationships. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20110311343 | WORK EDGE DETECTION MECHANISM AND WORK TRANSFERRING MECHANISM - This invention relates to a work edge detection mechanism that enables an edge of a work to be viewed clearly through an aligning camera without adding an illumination device, and to a work transfer mechanism that uses the work edge detection mechanism. The work edge detection mechanism formed from a tubular body provided with an opening at one end thereof, the tubular body having a blocking member provided at the other end thereof, includes light-reflecting means on a lower surface side of the blocking member in order to reflect any light entering from the opening, is constructed so that the tubular body has an inside diameter (φ1) at the opening of the tubular body and an inside diameter (φ2) at a side of the blocking member, the inside diameter (φ2) being greater than the inside diameter (φ1), and enables vacuum suction transfer of the work. | 12-22-2011 |
| 20110303844 | ELECTRON MICROSCOPE, AND SPECIMEN HOLDING METHOD - It is an object of the present invention to provide an electron microscope for properly applying a retarding voltage to a sample which is brought into electrical conduction. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110303843 | SAMPLE OBSERVING METHOD AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - Provided is a sample observing method wherein the effect on throughput is minimized, and a pattern profile can be obtained at high accuracy even in a complicated LSI pattern, regardless of the scanning direction of an electron beam. In the sample observing method, the presence or absence of an edge parallel to a scanning direction ( | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110302997 | LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH APPARATUS - A liquid chromatograph apparatus capable of eliminating a deviation of measurement results originating from an instrumental error is provided. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110301917 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - Abnormality causes are automatically identified during daily quality control, based on the focused consideration of complex uncertainty factors and, especially, of the causes of device-side abnormalities (i.e., abnormalities of the optical system and the dispenser mechanism), the latter of which are often difficult to identify. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110300021 | AUTOMATED ANALYZER - Stepped portions of a flow channel are reduced by completely fixing the channel that extends to the measuring unit, and reducing connections in the channel, thereby to suppress a disturbance in the flow of the liquid suctioned into the measuring unit. A means is provided so that the reaction solution and reagent suctioned will move towards the channel through which the liquids are suctioned. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110297533 | PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD AND PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - The invention provides a plasma processing apparatus and a dry etching method for etching a multilayered film structure having steps with high accuracy. The plasma processing apparatus comprises a vacuum reactor | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110293473 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An analytic method uses a labeled antigen, labeled antibody, tracer, etc. in which a radio isotope, fluorescent dye, luminescent dye, enzyme, etc. is bonded to an antibody or an antigen bonded to a protein as an object of analysis for performing an assay of a trace amount of a substance such as a hormone, tumor marker, infective pathogen marker, infective antibody, etc., for blood, serum, plasma, or body fluid as a sample or specimen. The analysis is enabled at high sensitivity, with less generation of noises and at low background. When an assay is performed based on the antigen-antibody reaction for a sample in an analytic method by fluorometry or luminometry, detection or measurement of non-specific fluorescence or luminescence such as interference light is eliminated or removed effectively irrespective of the property of the sample or the level of the concentration of substances contained in the sample. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110291009 | SEMICONDUCTOR INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE THAT CONSIDER THE EFFECTS OF ELECTRON BEAMS - Disclosed is a device capable of probing with minimal effect from electron beams. Rough probing is made possible using a lower magnification than the magnification usually viewed. When target contact of semiconductor is detected, measurement position is set in the center of picture usually to move probe without moving stage. With the miniaturization, contact can be confirmed only at high magnification, although probe can be confirmed at low magnification on the contrary but it is necessary to display it in real time. Static image obtained at high magnification once is combined with image obtained at low magnification in real time from target contact required for probing and characteristic of probe to be displayed, so that probing at low magnification can be realized to reduce the effects of electron beams and obtain accurate electrical characteristics. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110291004 | SAMPLE PRETREATMENT APPARATUS AND MASS SPECTROMETER PROVIDED WITH THE SAME - The present invention relates to a pretreatment apparatus that performs concentration and separation of a sample, and in particular, in order to provide a sample pretreatment apparatus using a solid-phase extraction column, and a mass spectrometer using the same, which is particularly suitable for clinical analysis in which qualitative/quantitative analysis of a biological sample such as blood is performed, according to each operational step for a solid-phase extraction treatment, for example, a collection device serving as flow passages or containers for collection of waste liquid or extracted matter is installed on a bottom face of the solid-phase extraction column, and the extracted matter is separately collected without being mixed with waste liquid by switching the positions of the collection device. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110287446 | IMMUNOANALYTICAL METHOD AND SYSTEM USING MASS SPECTROMETRY TECHNOLOGY - An immunoanalytical system in which, after a sample such as a patient's serum is subjected to a pretreatment by an immunological pretreatment device, the sample is subjected to light detection by an immunological photometric detection system. Subsequently, the mass spectrometric pretreatment device performs a pretreatment, and the mass spectrometric detection system performs mass spectrometry. The mass spectrometric detection system performs mass spectrometry on components contained in a supernatant. A signal intensity and peak area for each of components are calculated from an obtained chromatograph. A quantitative value measured based on the immunoanalytical method is calculated for each of the components on the basis of the relative ratios of the components. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110285839 | DEFECT OBSERVATION METHOD AND DEVICE USING SEM - An imaging region of a high-magnification reference image capable of being acquired in a low-magnification field without moving a stage from a position at which a defective region has been imaged at a low magnification is searched for and if the search is successful, an image of the imaging region itself is acquired and the high-magnification reference image is acquired. If the search is unsuccessful, the imaging scheme is switched to that in which the high-magnification reference image is acquired from a chip adjacent to the defective region. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110283779 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer of the type equipped with a sample preprocessing function pretreats a desired sample in a pretreating unit before pipetting the sample into an analyzing unit for analysis. When all samples are carried to the analyzing unit via the pretreating unit, irrespective of whether the sample is to be pretreated, this causes loss in terms of both costs and installation space requirements. In the case where the preprocessing is required, a minimal quantity of the sample is also necessary in order to make the sample react to the preprocessing liquid. In addition, the possible presence of a residual sample left in the pretreating unit could affect analytical results. The automatic analyzer which includes an analyzing unit and a pretreating unit further includes a sample-pipetting mechanism constructed to have a function that allows the mechanism to access a plurality of pipetting positions without a sample sucking/discharging position being fixed. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110278454 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - A scanning electron microscope having a charged particle beam that when in a state being irradiated toward a sample, a voltage is applied to the sample so that the charged particle beam does not reach the sample. The scanning electron microscope also detects information on a potential of a sample using a signal obtained, and a device for automatically adjusting conditions based on the result of measuring. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110274341 | CHARGED BEAM DEVICE - In order to provide a charged beam device capable of obtaining a precise image of a sample surface pattern while improving the accuracy of automatic focus/astigmatism correction, there are provided an electron gun ( | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110272596 | FLUORESCENCE DETECTOR - A fluorescence detector in which a sample substrate is provided with a structure unit comprising a prism or a diffraction grating. After excitation light falling on the sample substrate is totally reflected at a biomolecule-immobilized face that is located in the opposite side of the structure unit, the structure unit allows the emission of the reflected light therefrom. To ensure multiple visual field measurement, a sample substrate-driving unit is provided to scan the sample substrate. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110272578 | CHARGED PARTICLE RADIATION DEVICE PROVIDED WITH ABERRATION CORRECTOR - There is provided a charged particle radiation device provided with an aberration corrector capable of correcting aberration with high precision in a short time by automatically setting an aberration coefficient measuring condition to thereby realize measurement with high precision. The charged particle radiation device has a feature that a value of defocus and a value of astigma, occurring owing to aberration at the time of the beam tilting, are estimated on the basis of results of aberration measurement, thereby adjusting an electron optical system on the basis of these values. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110272576 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPLIED APPARATUS - Provided is a multi-beam type charged particle beam applied apparatus in an implementable configuration, capable of achieving both high detection accuracy of secondary charged particles and high speed of processing characteristically different specimens. An aperture array ( | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110272096 | PATTERN SHAPE INSPECTION INSTRUMENT AND PATTERN SHAPE INSPECTION METHOD, INSTRUMENT FOR INSPECTING STAMPER FOR PATTERNED MEDIA AND METHOD OF INSPECTING STAMPER FOR PATTERNED MEDIA, AND PATTERNED MEDIA DISK MANUFACTURING LINE - The present invention specifies a stamper that causes a defect at an early stage by inspecting a surface of a patterned medium and failure in molding of a pattern shape of a stamper at high speed or extracting a defect resulting from the stamper based upon a defect of a pattern on a disk so as to prevent the occurrence of a large quantity of failure beforehand. In the present invention, in order to inspect a pattern shape, wide-band light including a deep ultraviolet ray is radiated onto an inspected object, reflected light generated from the inspected object irradiated by an radiating optical system is detected, and it is judged whether the channel spectral data having fixed wavelength width of the detected reflected light exists within set limit or not. Similarly, the stamper is judged defective when the reflected light is diffracted and detected, detected spectral reflectance waveform data is compared with reference data, a defective area of a pattern of a resist film is extracted and the defective area acquired in the inspection data of the current inspection is the same as defective areas acquired in the inspection data of plural substrates inspected using the same stamper. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110271773 | AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS APPARATUS AND AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS METHOD - A rack buffer unit | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110267605 | FOREIGN MATTER INSPECTION METHOD AND FOREIGN MATTER INSPECTION APPARATUS - In a foreign matter inspection apparatus comprising: irradiating unit for irradiating inspection light to an inspection area of an article to be inspected; intensity detecting unit for detecting intensity of either reflected light or scattered light, which is generated from the inspection area by irradiating thereto the inspection light; position detecting unit for detecting a position of either the reflected light or the scattered light within the inspection area; and deciding unit for deciding whether or not a foreign matter is present within the inspection area; the foreign matter inspection apparatus is comprised of: display unit capable of displaying thereon both a threshold image in which the threshold value is indicated over an entire area of the inspection area, and a detection sensitivity image indicated by being converted from the threshold image. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110267198 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - Pressure fluctuations are sampled at fixed time intervals and subjected to arithmetic processing, using as a trigger the event (or a sign temporally close to that event) of the reverse motor rotation for the backlash correction, thereby discriminating normal suction from suction of sample liquid with undesirable air bubbles. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110266465 | ION BEAM DEVICE - Provided is an ion beam device provided with a gas electric field ionization ion source which can prevent an emitter tip from vibrating in a non-contact manner. The gas electric field ionization ion source is comprised of an emitter tip ( | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110260080 | SUBSTRATE HOLDING APPARATUS, AND INSPECTION OR PROCESSING APPARATUS - In order to enable high accuracy positioning and strong pressing of a substrate, the present invention provides a substrate holding apparatus including: a rotating bed having an inclined surface supporting a lower side of an outer circumferential side surface of the substrate, which bed rotates on a normal line of the substrate as the rotation axis together with the substrate; a position restriction unit rotating together with the rotating bed and restricting the substrate in a predetermined position on the rotating bed by pressing a plurality of points on the circumference on an upper side of the outer circumferential side surface of the substrate prior to the rotation; and a pressing unit rotating together with the rotating bed and pressing the substrate against the inclined surface by pressing a plurality of points on the upper side of the outer circumferential side surface of the substrate during the rotation. | 10-27-2011 |
| 20110255773 | CIRCUIT PATTERN INSPECTING APPARATUS, MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INCLUDING CIRCUIT PATTERN INSPECTING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING CIRCUIT PATTERN - The operation rate of a circuit pattern inspecting apparatus is prevented from deteriorating by measuring image noise of the circuit pattern inspecting apparatus and detecting the sign that the apparatus is to be in an abnormal state. Provided is the circuit pattern inspecting apparatus wherein circuit pattern abnormalities are detected by irradiating a substrate having a circuit pattern formed thereon with an electron beam and detecting generated secondary electrons or reflected electrons. The circuit pattern inspecting apparatus is provided with: an image processing section wherein an image is generated based on the signal intensities of the detected secondary electrons or those of the reflected electrons and the image is displayed for a display apparatus of the interface; and a control section which analyzes the frequency of noise included in the image. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110255082 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND OPTICAL INSPECTION APPARATUS - In the conventional contaminant particle/defect inspection method, if the illuminance of the illumination beam is held at not more than a predetermined upper limit value not to give thermal damage to the sample, the detection sensitivity and the inspection speed being in the tradeoff relation with each other, it is very difficult to improve one of the detection sensitivity and the inspection speed without sacrificing the other or improve both at the same time. The invention provides an improved optical inspection method and an improved optical inspection apparatus, in which a pulse laser is used as a light source, and a laser beam flux is split into a plurality of laser beam fluxes which are given different time delay to form a plurality of illumination spots. The scattered light signal from each illumination spot is isolated and detected by using a light emission start timing signal for each illumination spot. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110255080 | INSPECTION METHOD AND INSPECTION APPARATUS - The inspection conditions of a known inspection apparatus necessary for inspection are such that wafers are individually prepared for respective layer types and layer thicknesses, and standard particles having different sizes are applied to all of the wafers. Moreover, the wafers to which standard particles have been applied and which have been prepared for the respective layer types and layer thicknesses are inspected by the inspection apparatus to determine the optimal inspection conditions for the respective layer types and layer thicknesses. Therefore, there are problems that it requires long time and involves high cost to determine the inspection conditions. In the invention, the relation between the layer thickness and the scattering intensity in the inspection apparatus is calculated. The scattering intensity is divided into a plurality of intensity regions, and the inspection conditions optimized for the respective divided regions are determined. The inspection conditions are shared in each divided intensity region, whereby the time and cost necessary to determine the inspection conditions can be dramatically reduced. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110253891 | MASS SPECTROMETER - A mass spectrometer having a resolution improved by introducing ions into a mass spectrometry part with a high efficiency is provided with a small-sized, simple configuration. The mass spectrometer includes an opening/closing mechanism provided between a sample introducing piping part for introducing a sample into the mass spectrometry part and the mass spectrometry part to conduct gas introduction intermittently and control sample passage. The mass spectrometer further includes a pump mechanism to evacuate a high pressure side of the sample introducing piping part, that is, an opposite side of the opening/closing mechanism to the mass spectrometry part to have a pressure in a range of 100 to 10,000 Pa. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110253889 | ANALYZER, IONIZATION APPARATUS AND ANALYZING METHOD - An analyzer performs dielectric barrier discharge and ionization of a sample by a reaction between the sample and excited molecules or ions generated by the dielectric barrier discharge at a pressure lower than an atmospheric pressure. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110249110 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - Provided is a scanning electron microscope including: an image recording unit ( | 10-13-2011 |
| 20110240855 | ELECTRON BEAM DEVICE AND ELECTRON BEAM APPLICATION DEVICE USING THE SAME - To obtain a SEM capable of both providing high resolution at low acceleration voltage and allowing high-speed elemental distribution measurement, a SE electron source including Zr—O as a diffusion source is shaped so that the radius r of curvature of the tip is more than 0.5 μm and less than 1 μm, and the cone angle α of a conical portion at a portion in the vicinity of the tip at a distance of | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110225684 | MAGNETIC HEAD INSPECTION METHOD AND MAGNETIC HEAD MANUFACTURING METHOD - A magnetic head inspection method is provided with the step that an area smaller than a half of a scanning and measurement area of a magnetic probe in a cantilever unit of the MFM is set as a scanning and measurement area on a surface of a recording portion of the magnetic head that is scanned by the AFM, so as to greatly reduce the inspection time (tact time) of the AFM. | 09-15-2011 |
| 20110217479 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSCRIPTING FINE PATTERNS - In a method for transcripting fine patterns and an apparatus for transcripting fine patterns, the ingress of bubbles is prevented and patterns are transcripted with a high throughput by a relatively compact apparatus. For this purpose, a back surface of a stamper is vacuum sucked and the stamper is brought into close contact with a target of transcription with its surfaces coated with resist and pressure is applied thereto. At this time, the stamper is deformed into a spherical shape or bent to expand the close contact face from a central area to a peripheral area to prevent the ingress of air bubbles into between the target of transcription and the stamper. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110214691 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING SUBSTRATES - An apparatus for washing a substrate includes a scrub washing unit for washing both surfaces of a substrate, which are scrubbed by a rotating brush while supplying pure water to both surfaces of the substrate, a rinse unit for washing the surfaces of the substrate which have been washed by the scrub washing unit using the pure water, and a dry unit for drying the surfaces of the substrate which have been washed by the rinse unit. The scrub washing unit includes an ultrasonic application unit for applying ultrasonic waves to pure water supplied to the both surfaces of the substrate, which are scrubbed by the rotating brush while supplying the pure water to which the ultrasonic wave has been applied by the ultrasonic application unit to the both surfaces of the substrate. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110211060 | WAFER INSPECTION DATA HANDLING AND DEFECT REVIEW TOOL - A defect detected by a wafer inspection tool is reliably captured by a defect review tool. A defect review condition in the defect review tool is varied depending on defect attributes provided by the wafer inspection tool so as to optimize the review process. For example, review magnification is varied depending on the size of the defect, or the frame addition number is varied depending on the maximum gray level difference. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110210250 | CALIBRATION STANDARD MEMBER, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE MEMBER AND SCANNING ELECTRONIC MICROSCOPE USING THE MEMBER - This invention provides a standard member allowing magnification calibration for use in an electron microscope to be performed with high precision. A (110) or (100) oriented silicon substrate including a magnification calibration pattern comprised of a constant pitch periodic pattern and a (110) or (100) oriented silicon substrate not including the constant pitch periodic pattern are bonded together by means of bonding without using an adhesive agent, while aligning the plane directions of the surfaces of the two substrates in the same orientation. Then, the thus bonded substrates are cleaved or diced so that their (111) surfaces or (110) surfaces become cross-section surfaces. Further, by selectively etching one side of the constant pitch periodic pattern, a standard member with no level difference and no damage to superlattice patterns and having a constant pitch concavity and convexity periodic pattern in a cross-section surface vertical to the substrate surface is created. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110210248 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSTRUMENT COMPRISING AN ABERRATION CORRECTOR - A method for estimation of a probe shape, in a scanning electron microscope provided with an aberration corrector, and the method is designed so as to obtain a probe image, by inputting to a computer an image taken in a just-focused state and an image taken in a de-focused state, as an image data; preparing a correlation window by automatically determining a size of a correlation window image, based on an input data size and an output data size; executing cross-correlation calculation between the correlation window and a reference area; and repeating this calculation while shifting the reference area, so as to obtain a cross-correlation matrix, in order to stably obtain the probe image, without receiving effects of use conditions or noises. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110204228 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS - It has been difficult to obtain pattern contrast required for inspecting a specific layer of a circuit pattern in a charged particle beam apparatus which inspects, by using a charged particle beam, the position and type of a defect on a wafer having a circuit pattern which is in semiconductor manufacturing process. At the time of inspecting the position and type of a defect on a wafer having a circuit pattern which is in semiconductor manufacturing process by using a charged particle beam emitted from a charged particle source ( | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110200485 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer for performing analysis of a precision control sample in response to an external factor to alleviate the burden on the operator and perform precision control at appropriate timing, thereby allowing automatic maintenance of the measurement precision. Analysis of a precision control sample is performed by creating an analysis request for the internally held precision control sample and then transferring the precision control sample in response to an external factor occurring, when a calibrator is inputted in the analyzer, the number of remaining reagents under analysis satisfies a predetermined condition (becomes zero or falls below a specified value), the date changes, a specified time runs out, the operator is changed, the number of analyzed samples exceeds a specified value, a specified time period has elapsed, a new reagent is registered, and a measurement failure is detected. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110195183 | SPIN COATER AND METHOD FOR SPIN COATING - There is provided a method for spin coating, by which a resist is coated on a surface of a circular disc with a hole formed in its center. A method for spin coating coats a film-forming material discharged from a nozzle to an upper surface of a circular disc substrate with a through hole formed in a center while rotating the substrate. At an initial discharging stage where a discharge amount fluctuates, an inner diameter center of the nozzle is located at an initial discharge radius position apart from a position corresponding to a coat boundary of the disc substrate at an outer radial side. At a subsequent stage of stabilized discharging amount, the inner diameter center of the nozzle is moved from the initial discharge radius position to a stabilized discharge radius position around the coat boundary to further discharge the film-forming material. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110194778 | PATTERN-SEARCHING CONDITION DETERMINING METHOD, AND PATTERN-SEARCHING CONDITION SETTING DEVICE - Provided is a method for determining the magnification of a pattern searching template of a scanning electron microscope. The determining method comprises: acquiring a first image initially at a first magnification; then acquiring a second image which contains a pattern image displayed on the first image at a second magnification lower than the first magnification; making the size of the first image coincident with the size of a third image which cut out a portion of the second image; thereafter determining the correlation value between the first image and the third image; and setting the second magnification as the magnification of a pattern searching template, in the case where the correlation value is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. As a result, a condition for acquiring a search area can be properly set, when pattern recognition is performed by means of the template. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110188143 | METHOD AND ITS APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING A MAGNETIC DISK - In order to implement efficient read/write testing by firstly determining read/write test area-sampling positions based on position information relating to any defects detected during optical inspection, and then conducting read/write tests only upon areas neighboring the defects detected during the optical inspection, a magnetic disk to be inspected is retained on a spindle and moved under this state between an optical type of inspection apparatus and a read/write test apparatus, in which apparatus configuration the read/write test apparatus uses position information on any defects detected by the optical type of inspection apparatus and conducts read/write tests only upon neighboring areas of the defects detected by the optical type of inspection apparatus. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110182784 | SPECIMEN RACK - A specimen rack can be used for specimen containers irrespective of kinds thereof and irrespective of whether or not the specimen containers are rotated. An adapter is used for an automatic analyzer and a specimen pre-processing device and is adapted for a specimen rack capable of holding specimen containers. The adapter is provided with a specimen rack mounting section inserted and fixed to an adapter insertion section of a specimen rack body, a specimen container positioning section for holding the specimen containers, and a sleeve. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110174975 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM SCANNING METHOD AND CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS - In a method of scanning a charged particle beam which can position the scan position to a proper location inside a deflectable range of the scan position of charged particle beam, the scan position of charged particle beam is deflected to a plurality of target objects inside a scan position deflectable region and on the basis of a shift of a target object at a scan location after deflection, the deflection amount at the scan location is corrected. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110174343 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - A function for checking whether components of an automatic analyzer properly operate is made available. A pressure sensor is installed in a sample path. A pressure waveform obtained during a washing water discharge operation | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110171069 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - When dispensing from one specimen is repeated, the cleaning liquid adhering to an outer wall of a cleaned dispensing nozzle is likely to be moved into a sample vessel during aspiration of the sample and result in reduced sample concentration or deteriorated analytical accuracy. Thus, the cleaning mechanism has a cleaning range of the dispensing nozzle outer wall which is changed according to a range in which dirt adheres to the nozzle. Additionally, an ejector effect acting between the dispensing nozzle and a cleaning liquid flow prevents a decrease in the concentration of the sample by reducing the amount of cleaning liquid which adheres to the dispensing nozzle outer wall. The cleaning mechanism also uses a liquid level detection function of the dispensing nozzle and a nozzle pipe internal-pressure change detection function to determine a discharge state of the cleaning liquid flow and obtain an appropriate cleaning range. | 07-14-2011 |
| 20110169836 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - Even when an operator wishes to confirm multiple kinds of measurement result information related to a sample, if not all of the desired information can be simultaneously displayed in a limited display area, the operator will be heavily burdened since he or she needs to execute a large number of operating steps to confirm multiple kinds of detailed measurement result information while repeating the opening/closing of subwindows and/or window-switching operations. In particular, if a measurement result alarm occurs, the operator will be unable to respond rapidly, even when he or she wishes to confirm the detailed information in an attempt to investigate the probable causes of the alarm. | 07-14-2011 |
| 20110163230 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE - There is provided a substrate inspection device which uses a charged particle beam and is capable of more quickly extracting a defect candidate than ever before. The configuration of the substrate inspection device is such that a substrate having a circuit pattern is irradiated with a primary charged particle beam, the substrate is moved at a constant speed or at an increasing or a decreasing speed, a position resulting from the movement is monitored, the position of irradiation with the primary charged particle beam is controlled according to the coordinates of the substrate, an image in a partial region on the substrate is captured at a speed lower than the velocity of the movement, a defect candidate is detected based on the captured image, and the detected defect candidate is displayed in a map format. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110162438 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER AND SAMPLE-PROCESSING SYSTEM - In a sample-processing system having function modules and buffer units each combined as a pair with one another, in case of device stoppage due to failure, since a number of sample racks are held in the buffers, resetting involves a huge amount of time for storage of the racks. In addition, if the system configuration includes a plurality of buffer units, the resetting time increases with the number of buffer units. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110158848 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer, which prevents cross contamination, has a sample dispensing probe washing mechanism | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110158543 | SAMPLE DIMENSION INSPECTING/MEASURING METHOD AND SAMPLE DIMENSION INSPECTING/MEASURING APPARATUS - One of principal objects of the present invention is to provide a sample dimension measuring method for detecting the position of an edge of a two-dimensional pattern constantly with the same accuracy irrespective of the direction of the edge and a sample dimension measuring apparatus. According to this invention, to accomplish the above object, it is proposed to correct the change of a signal waveform of secondary electrons which depends on the direction of scanning of an electron beam relative to the direction of a pattern edge of an inspection objective pattern. It is proposed that when changing the scanning direction of the electron beam in compliance with the direction of a pattern to be measured, errors in the scanning direction and the scanning position are corrected. In this configuration, a sufficient accuracy of edge detection can be obtained irrespective of the scanning direction of the electron beam. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110157580 | PRETREATMENT APPARATUS AND MASS SPECTROMETER EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME APPARATUS - To perform accurate measurement in the analysis of chemical components with low concentration, pretreatment such as concentration and purification of samples is essential. For high-throughput of pretreatment of biological samples, various random clinical testing is encountered, where analytes change from sample to sample. The pretreatment apparatus has a separating agent selectively separating a specific component by allowing a sample solution to flow therethrough. A holding section holds a plurality of housing sections, which house the separating agent therein, and has an endless track. A pressurizing section applies pressure to the housing section in a continuous and random-accessible manner; and an extraction solution receiver mechanism selectively receives an extracted solution from the separating agent housed in the housing section. A mass spectrometer is connected to the pretreatment apparatus. Thus, a large number of specimens can be simultaneously processed. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110153114 | Mini Environment Apparatus, Inspection Apparatus, Manufacturing Apparatus and Cleaning Method of Space - An outer dust collecting filter covers a casing an intake port and an outer fan flows air from an external environment into the casing via the outer dust collecting filter. A clean chamber has an intake port within the casing, an inner dust collecting filter for covering the intake port, and an inner fan for flowing the air within the casing. A control unit controls fan rotating speeds so that a measured pressure within the casing becomes higher at a set value than a measured pressure in the external environment, and a measured pressure within the clean chamber becomes higher at a set value than the measured pressure within the casing. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110150345 | PATTERN MATCHING METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR EXECUTING PATTERN MATCHING - A pattern matching method which is capable of selecting a suitable measurement object pattern, even on a sample containing a periodic structure, and a computer program for making a computer execute the pattern matching. In a pattern matching method which executes matching between the design data-based first image of an object sample, and a second image, whether or not a periodic structure is included in a region to execute the matching is determined, so as to select a pattern, based on distance between an original point which is set in said image, and the pattern configuring said periodic structure, in the case where the periodic structure is included in said region, and to select a pattern based on coincidence of the pattern in said image, in the case where the periodic structure is not included in said region, and a computer program product. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110147609 | ION BEAM DEVICE - An ion beam device according to the present invention includes a gas field ion source ( | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110141461 | Surface Inspection Method and Surface Inspection Apparatus - Light from a light source becomes two illumination beams by a beam splitter. The beams are irradiated onto a semiconductor wafer from two mutually substantially orthogonal azimuthal angles having substantially equal elevation angles to form illumination spots. When the sum of scattered, diffracted, and reflected lights due to the illumination beams is detected, influence of the anisotropy which a contaminant particle and a defect existing in the wafer itself or thereon have with respect to an illumination direction, can be eliminated. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110140729 | INSPECTION DEVICE - An object of the invention is to provide an inspection device which has a function of preventing electric discharge so that an absorbed current is detected more efficiently. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110139985 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS - A charged particle beam apparatus that can achieve both high defect-detection sensitivity and high inspection speed for a sample with various properties in a multi-beam type semiconductor inspection apparatus. The allocation of the primary beam on the sample is made changeable, and furthermore, the beam allocation for performing the inspection at the optimum inspection specifications and at high speed is selected based on the property of the sample. In addition, many optical parameters and apparatus parameters are optimized. Furthermore, the properties of the selected primary beam are measured and adjusted. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110139983 | CHARGED CORPUSCULAR PARTICLE BEAM IRRADIATING METHOD, AND CHARGED CORPUSCULAR PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS - According to a charged corpuscular particle beam irradiating method of this invention, a focusing element ( | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110139980 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS AND GEOMETRICAL ABERRATION MEASUREMENT METHOD THEREFORE - Disclosed is a scanning charged particle microscope provided with an aberration measuring means that measures high-order geometrical aberration at high precision and high speed. An image obtained by a single-hole aperture and an image obtained by a multiple-hole aperture arranged in a region larger than that for the single-hole aperture are deconvoluted, an aberration quantity is determined based on the profiles of beams tilted in a plurality of directions and the obtained quantity is fed back to an aberration corrector. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110139370 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A plasma processing apparatus including a chamber having an inner wall with a protective film thereon and a sample stage disposed in the chamber in which plasma is generated by supplying high-frequency wave energy to processing gas to conduct plasma processing for a sample on the sample stage using the plasma. The apparatus includes a control device which determines, based on monitor values of a wafer attracting current monitor (Ip) to monitor a current supplied from a wafer attracting power source, an impedance monitor (Zp) to monitor plasma impedance viewed from a plasma generating power source, and an impedance monitor (Zb) to monitor a plasma impedance viewed from a bias power supply, presence or absence of occurrence of an associated one of abnormal discharge in inner parts, deterioration in insulation of an insulating film of a wafer attracting electrode, and abnormal injection in a gas injection plate. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110133765 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROBE CONTACTING - There is provided a method and a device for accurately detecting the contact of a mechanical probe with a contact object. The contact detecting device comprises a mechanical probe movable for being in contact with a contacted object, a charged particle beam source which generates a charged particle beam applied to the contacted object, a detector for detecting secondary particles or reflected particles from the contacted object, a calculating device which calculates, from a detection signal from the detector, a feature quantity of a shadow of the mechanical probe projected on the contacted object, and a control device which controls the operation of the mechanical probe. The calculating device calculates, as the feature quantity of the shadow of the mechanical probe, a shadow depth S(x, y), and obtains an evaluation value J(z), showing a distance between the contacted object and the mechanical probe, based on the shadow depth S(x, y). | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110133075 | MASS SPECTROMETER - The mass spectrometer is characterized in that a linear ion trap, that consists of electrodes for mass-selective discharge, is provided with a mechanism that excites ions in a first direction that is perpendicular to the rod axes and a mechanism that simultaneously generates an electric field on the axes in a second direction that is perpendicular to the axial direction and the first direction in order to generate an electric field on the central axis. Highly efficient, high-speed scanning can be achieved using this configuration. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110133065 | Standard Member for Correction, Scanning Electron Microscope Using Same, and Scanning Electron Microscope Correction Method - Disclosed is a standard specimen, used with an electron microscope to correct the magnification with high precision. A standard member used for correction corrects a scanning electron microscope that measures a pattern within an observation region based on information about the secondary electrons generated by scanning incident electron lines on the observation region on a measurement specimen, or information about the reflected electron intensity. The standard member has a first pattern region that corrects the magnification and that comprises a concavo-convex pattern (line/space pattern) in the cross section of a multilayer film that has been laminated, and a second pattern region near the first pattern at almost the same height that does not contain a pattern with the same periodicity as the pattern pitch size of the first region and that is used for beam adjustment. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110129142 | DEFECT REVIEW SYSTEM AND METHOD, AND PROGRAM - A system is provided that realizes both reduction in coordinate error and improvement in throughput and allows observation of a micro-defect. The system includes: a function of measuring an amount of displacement between preliminarily calculated coordinates and an actual specimen position; a function of optimizing a coordinate correction formula so as to minimize the amount of displacement from the measured amount of displacement; and a function of calculating variation of displacement between the preliminarily calculated coordinates and the actual specimen position by statistical processing. When a value of coordinate variation is sufficiently small with respect to the field of view of an image for observation, which is to be a defect observation image, the system acquires only the image for observation without performing acquisition of an image for search, which is to be a defect search image. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20110120647 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING ETCHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND ASHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD USING PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an asking processing apparatus is less than a diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an etching processing apparatus, and the diameter of the mounting unit of the stage of the etching processing apparatus is less than a diameter of an objective item. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110116182 | MAGNETIC HEAD SLIDER TESTING APPARATUS AND MAGNETIC HEAD SLIDER TESTING METHOD - A step portion for mounting a row bar is provided at a table stepping down from the face of the table, and by lowering a pair of hooks crossing over the step portion in its width direction, a row bar held by the hooks is mounted on the step portion. While interposing the row bar mounted on the step portion between a pair of hooks and a side face of the step portion, the side in longitudinal direction of the row bar and the bottom face thereof are butted to the bottom face and the standing up side face of the step portion to position two axes of the row bar among XYZ directions, successively, positioning of the row bar in one remaining direction along longitudinal direction of the row bar mounted on the step portion is performed by moving the table in the one remaining axial direction. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110109901 | FOREIGN MATTER INSPECTION APPARATUS - Selection with alignment marks of an optimal template, its identification and similarity judgment are conducted by a calculation function of a correlation value provided to a foreign matter inspection apparatus. In other words, the foreign matter inspection apparatus includes unit for registering feature points of alignment marks formed on a surface of an inspected object, unit for collecting image data of the alignment marks formed on the surface of the inspected object and a data processor for extracting a feature point from the image data and calculating a correlation value of both feature points, and registers the image data of the alignment mark on the basis of a threshold value of the correlation value. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110104810 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - It is checked whether a liquid undulation prevention mechanism is present or absent in a reagent vessel at the start of an operation (steps | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110104703 | NUCLEIC ACID ANALYZER, AUTOMATIC ANALYZER, AND ANALYSIS METHOD - This invention relates to a nucleic acid analyzer comprising: reaction containers capable of containing nucleic-acid-containing samples and reagents; an incubation mechanism capable of controlling temperatures of reaction containers set at different levels; an analysis mechanism for analyzing the samples contained in the reaction containers; and a transport mechanism for transporting a reaction container. In accordance with the assay technique to be performed on a nucleic-acid-containing sample, the transport mechanism transports a reaction container to a given incubation mechanism in a given order. The reaction container subjected to the process of sample preparation is transported to the analysis mechanism at a given time and the sample is analyzed. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110104007 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZING DEVICE - A reaction solution is mixed in a short period of time with excellent stir efficiency. A stir rod | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110097813 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY - In a liquid chromatography apparatus, a separation column of intermediate stage is additionally connected between a separation column of first stage and a separation column of second stage. Preferably, a switching unit and a liquid feed unit for mixing and feeding a plurality of solutions are added to improve a separation capability. A three-dimensional liquid chromatography apparatus capable of avoiding the “solution interference” can be realized. Even a complex sample containing a hydrophilic component and a hydrophobic component in a mixed state can be separated and analyzed satisfactorily on-line. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110097240 | ANALYZER USING MAGNETIC PARTICLES - This invention provides an analyzer that uses magnetic particles, the analyzer being capable of removing inhibitors within a short time and reducing an analytical time. Magnetic particles | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110096309 | Method and System for Wafer Inspection - A method and system for evaluating a lithographic pattern obtained using multiple-patterning lithographic processing are presented. In one aspect, the method includes aligning a target design with a lithographic pattern. The target design may comprise a first design and a second design. The method further comprises identifying in the lithographic pattern a stitching region based on a region of overlap between the first design and the second design. The method further comprises determining for the identified stitching region whether a predetermined criterion is fulfilled. In some embodiments, determining whether a predetermined criterion is fulfilled may comprise determining a line or trench minimum width. Alternately or additionally, determining whether a predetermined criterion is fulfilled may comprise determining a stitching metric for the identified stitching region, and evaluating whether or not the stitching metric fulfills the predetermined criterion. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110095185 | SEMICONDUCTOR INSPECTING APPARATUS - In the case of inspecting samples having different sizes by means of a semiconductor inspecting apparatus, a primary electron beam bends since distribution is disturbed on an equipotential surface at the vicinity of the sample at the time of inspecting vicinities of the sample, and what is called a positional shift is generated. A potential correcting electrode is arranged outside the sample and at a position lower than the sample lower surface, and a potential lower than that of the sample is applied. Furthermore, a voltage to be applied to the potential correcting electrode is controlled corresponding to a distance between the inspecting position and a sample outer end, sample thickness and irradiation conditions of the primary electron beam. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110095184 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE AND METHOD OF IMAGING AN OBJECT BY USING THE SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - A scanning electron microscope capable of modifying the focal position of a condenser lens with high speed and high reproducibility in order that low-magnification images are obtained at large depths of focus and that high-magnification images are obtained at high resolution. The microscope has a specimen-holding portion, an electron beam source, a condenser lens for converging the electron beam, an objective lens for focusing the converged beam into a very small spot onto a specimen, scan coils, a detector for detecting a specimen signal emanating from the specimen, and a display portion for displaying the detected specimen signal as an image. An axisymmetric electrode is disposed within the magnetic field produced by the condenser lens. A voltage is applied to the electrode. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110095183 | ELECTRON BEAM MEASUREMENT APPARATUS - The present invention provides an electron beam measurement technique for measuring the shapes or sizes of portions of patterns on a sample, or detecting a defect or the like. An electron beam measurement apparatus has a unit for irradiating the patterns delineated on a substrate by a multi-exposure method, and classifying the patterns in an acquired image into multiple groups according to an exposure history record. The exposure history record is obtained based on brightness of the patterns and a difference between white bands of the patterns. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110095182 | ELECTRON MICROSCOPE WITH ELECTRON SPECTROMETER - A lens adjustment method and a lens adjustment system which adjust a plurality of multi-pole lenses of an electron spectrometer attached to a transmission electron microscope, optimum conditions of the multi-pole lenses are determined through simulation based on a parameter design method using exciting currents of the multi-pole lenses as parameters. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110093991 | Probe Storage Container, Prober Apparatus, Probe Arranging Method and Manufacturing Method of Probe Storage Container - An object of the present invention relates to an arrangement of a manufactured probe in a prober apparatus without being exposed to an atmospheric air. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110090512 | SURFACE INSPECTION TOOL AND SURFACE INSPECTION METHOD - An object of the present invention is to provide a surface inspection tool in which a flat inspection range capable of measuring surface roughness of a wafer with patterns with high accuracy and in a nondestructive manner can be searched without visual search. In order to solve the object, in a surface inspection tool | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110090247 | PARTICLE IMAGE ANALYSIS METHOD AND APPARATUS - A particle image analyzing method is adapted so that while raising image-reviewing efficiency at a cropped image level of particle components in a sample, the entire sample can be observed without significantly changing a related apparatus configuration. Prior to image reviewing of an imaging region, cropped images thereof are reviewed and, with reference to the images arranged for each kind of particle component, if the operator judges any particles to have been falsely identified, the operator uses an operating unit to modify positions of the particles to those of correct component items. An overall image of the imaging region is displayed and if any components to be added (overlooked components) appear, the kinds of these components are identified and quantitative data on each kind of component is registered. Upon completion of the registration, the concentration of the sample is recalculated and a comment is entered in a comment field. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110090066 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer restartable within a short time includes at least one of quality control information and calibration information stored into an analyzer processing unit. A reagent management unit reads out information from a reagent vessel ID tag affixed to a reagent vessel inside a reagent accommodation unit containing the reagent, and writes information onto the reagent vessel ID tag. The analyzer processing unit uses the reagent management unit to write the quality control information or the calibration information onto the reagent vessel ID tag. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110088517 | SYSTEM FOR PRETREATING SAMPLE - The present invention provides a system for pretreating sample that can unplug a rubber-plugged sample tube and a resin-plugged sample tube in one unplugging unit. The system for pretreating sample includes a sample rack on which a plugged sample tube can be mounted, a conveyor line for conveying the sample rack, and an unplugging unit that has a clamp device for holding the plugged sample tube at the time of unplugging and a plug chuck device for chucking the plug of the plugged sample tube held by the clamp device and unplugging the sample tube. The plug chuck device can unplug both the rubber-plugged and resin-plugged sample tubes. More specifically, the plug chuck device has a combination of an unplugging chuck having a suitable shape for unplugging the rubber-plugged sample tube and another unplugging chuck having a suitable shape for unplugging the resin-plugged sample tube. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110075148 | SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS - The present invention provides an apparatus and method which enable detecting a microscopic defect sensitively by efficiently collecting and detecting scattering light from a defect in a wider region without enlarging the apparatus. In the apparatus for inspecting a defect on a surface of a sample, including illumination means which irradiates a surface of a sample with laser, reflected light detection means which detects reflected light from the sample, and signal processing means which processes a detected signal and detecting a defect on the sample, the reflected light detection means is configured to include a scattering light detection unit which collects scattering light components of the reflected light from the sample by excluding specularly reflected light components by using an aspheric flannel lens and detecting the scattering light components. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110075139 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND OPTICAL INSPECTION SYSTEM - An optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof are provided for classifying and inspecting defects such as scratches, voids and particles produced in a flattening process by a polishing or grinding technique used for semiconductor manufacturing. The present invention is an optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof characterized by obliquely illuminating a scratch, void or particle produced on the surface of a polished or ground insulating film at substantially the same velocity of light, detecting scattered light at the time of oblique illumination from the surface of an inspection target at different angles and thereby classifying the scratch, void or particle. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110075137 | DEFECT INSPECTION SYSTEM - In a defect inspection system using a plurality of detectors such as an upright detector and an oblique detector, if illumination light and wafer height are adjusted to the detection field of view of one detector, a defocused image is detected by other remaining detectors, resulting in degradation of the detection sensitivity. The present invention solves this problem. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110075136 | FOREIGN MATTER INSPECTION APPARATUS AND FOREIGN MATTER INSPECTION METHOD - A foreign-matter inspection apparatus is implemented which allows the stable detection sensitivity to be maintained. A laser beam emitted from a laser apparatus is applied to a beam irradiation sample via an irradiation unit and a mirror. Then, the laser beam is captured into a beam-capturing camera via an image-forming lens and a beam-direction switching mirror. Based on the captured beam image, an image computational processing unit judges inclination of the laser beam, then adjusting the irradiation unit thereby to correct the inclination of the laser beam. Also, the beam is captured into the beam-capturing camera in specified number-of-times while focus of the laser beam is being changed by an arbitrary amount by the irradiation unit. Based on the captured beam, the focus of the laser beam is corrected by adjusting the irradiation unit. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110075133 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INSPECTING DEFECTS ON BOTH SURFACES OF MAGNETIC DISK - A device that is capable of simultaneously inspecting both sides of surfaces of a magnetic disk to detect defects thereon includes a front-side defect detecting section and a back-side defect detecting section each of which optically detect a scratch and a defect that are present on the front and back surfaces of the magnetic disk, to improve a throughput for inspection. The back-side defect detecting section has an optical path changing section that reflects a laser beam emitted by a laser light source to change an optical path thereof and thereby to direct the laser beam toward the back surface of the magnetic disk and that reflects scattered light that has been collected by a Fresnel lens to change an optical path thereof and thereby to direct the scattered light toward a first photoelectric converter. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110073760 | Charged Particle Beam Irradiation System - It is to prevent an image drift from occurring caused by a specimen being charged when observing the specimen including an insulating material. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110073758 | MICRO-SAMPLE PROCESSING METHOD, OBSERVATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - As sample sizes have decreased to microscopic levels, it has become desirable to establish a method for thin film processing and observation with a high level of positional accuracy, especially for materials which are vulnerable to electron beam irradiation. The technological problem is to judge a point at which to end FIB processing and perform control so that the portion to be observed ends up in a central portion of the thin film. The present invention enables display of structure in cross-section by setting a strip-like processing region in an inclined portion of a sample cross-section and enlarging the display of the strip-like processing region on a processing monitor in a short-side direction. It is then possible to check the cross-sectional structure without additional use of an electron beam. Since it is possible to check the processed section without using an electron beam, electron beam-generated damage or deformation to the processed section is avoided. Further, performing the observation using a high-speed electron beam after forming the thin film enables observation with suppressed sample damage. Processing of even thinner thin films using the FIB while observing images of the sample generated using an electron beam is then possible. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110062328 | Defect Review Apparatus and Method of Reviewing Defects - The present invention aims to provide a defect review apparatus capable of suppressing a reduction in throughput with a minimized deviation-amount measurement, and capable of optimizing an FOV of a monitoring image. To this end, the review apparatus for reviewing a specimen by moving the specimen to pre-calculated coordinate includes: a function to measure a deviation amount between the pre-calculated coordinates and coordinates of an actual position of the specimen; a function to optimize a coordinate correcting expression to minimize the measured deviation amount; and a function to determine that the deviation amounts have converged. When the deviation amounts have converged, the measurement for the coordinate-correcting-expression optimization is terminated. Thereby, the reduction in throughput is suppressed to the minimum level, and furthermore a FOV necessary for the specimen to be within the field of view is set according to a convergence value of the calculated deviation amount. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110062327 | Charged Particle Beam Device - There is provided a charged particle beam device which can prevent a specimen from not being able to be observed due to entering of a part of a grid of a mesh in a field of view, in which each pixel of a scanning transmission electron microscope image is displayed on the basis of a gray value of a predetermined gradation scale. In the case where the number of pixels of the predetermined gray value is not less than a predetermined percentage, it is judged that the mesh image is included in the scanning transmission electron microscope image. When the mesh image is not anymore included in the scanning transmission electron microscope image, the predetermined gradation scale is converted to another gradation scale and a scanning transmission electron microscope image is obtained. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110058984 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - The automatic analyzer uses a marker that is to be attached to a measurement object. The marker is made of a substance that becomes excited when irradiated. The automatic analyzer has a function of varying irradiation intensity, and controls the intensity of light emitted from an item marker by adjusting the irradiation intensity for each analysis item or for each analysis vessel. Further, the automatic analyzer has a function of controlling the at least one of the position and angle of an analysis vessel during irradiation, and controls the amount of radiation to the measurement object by adjusting at least one of the distance and angle between an irradiation light source and analysis vessel for each analysis item. Furthermore, the automatic analyzer has a function of varying the integration time of photometric means and controls the integration time for each analysis item or for each analysis vessel. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110057101 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM SYSTEM - A charged particle beam system wherein the output of the secondary electron detector is detected while the retarding voltage is varied between the values for which the secondary electrons do not reach the sample and the values for which the secondary electrons reach the sample, and the surface potential of the sample is determined on the basis of the relationship between the retarding voltage and the detected output of the secondary electron detector. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110057100 | Transmission Electron Microscope, and Method of Observing Specimen - Provided is means which enables observation of the shape of a specimen as it is without deforming the specimen. Observation is made by allowing a specimen-holding member having an opening (for example, microgrid and mesh) to hold an ionic liquid and charging a specimen thereto, to allow the specimen to suspend in the ionic liquid. Furthermore, in the proximity of the specimen-holding member, a mechanism of injecting an ionic liquid (ionic liquid introduction mechanism) and/or an electrode are provided. When a voltage is applied to the electrode, the specimen moves or deforms in the ionic liquid. How the specimen moves or deforms can be observed. Furthermore, in the proximity of specimen-holding member, an evaporation apparatus is provided to enable charge of the specimen into the ionic liquid while evaporating. Furthermore, in the proximity of the specimen-holding member, a microcapillary is provided to charge a liquid-state specimen into the ionic liquid. Note that the specimen-holding member is designed to be rotatable. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110051580 | DISK PROTRUSION DETECTION/FLATNESS MEASUREMENT CIRCUIT AND DISK GLIDE TESTER - The present invention relates to a disk protrusion detection/flatness measurement circuit and a disk glide tester, in which protrusion detection and average value calculation can be performed without switching signal processing circuits of two systems, one for the protrusion detection of a disk and the other for the average value calculation with respect to a track or a sector of the disk. This also makes it possible to reduce the size of the measurement circuit. In the protrusion detection/flatness measurement circuit, a signal from a protrusion detection sensor is amplified and converted from an analog signal to a digital signal. The signal passes through a band-pass filter to obtain a digital signal with a predetermined bandwidth. Then, peak detection and average value calculation processes are applied in parallel to the obtained digital signal. Thus, pass/fail decision of the disk can be made based on the detected peak and average values. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110051131 | INSPECTION DEVICE AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection device for inspecting defects of an inspection object including a light source for irradiating a luminous flux to the inspection object; an optical system for guiding reflected light from the inspection object; a photoelectric image sensor having a plurality of photoelectric cells arranged, for converting the light guided to detection signals; a detection signal transfer unit having channels each constituted by a signal correction unit, a converter and an image formation unit, and corresponding to each of a plurality of regions formed by dividing the photoelectric image sensor, respectively; and an image synthesis unit for forming an image of the surface of the object by synthesizing partial images outputted; the inspection device inspecting defects of the object by processing the synthesized image; whereby it becomes possible to correct a detection signal from said photoelectric cell close to a predetermined reference target value. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110042283 | LIQUID DELIVERY DEVICE, LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH, AND METHOD FOR OPERATION OF LIQUID DELIVERY DEVICE - The present invention provides a liquid delivery device for liquid chromatographs which, by performing liquid delivery at an accurate flow rate with limited pulsation, gives accurate results of analyses. The present invention, with a view to preventing erroneous operation due to errors in measurements at the time of judgment of completion of compression of liquid, establishes the judgment point before the pressure measured by a cylinder pressure detector agrees with the pressure measured by a discharge pressure detector and also calculates the point of completion of compression. Control in this manner prevents pressure fluctuation. It also calculates for control the point of completion of compression from the history of compression performed previously. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110029906 | REPORT FORMAT SETTING METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND DEFECT REVIEW SYSTEM - Generated is a template edition screen on which to display components of a report as modules by OSD by use of icons. One of the icons is selected by use of a pointing device including a mouse. By a drag-and-drop operation, the icon is placed at a desired position in an output format setup area formed in the same screen. The icon is set in a desired size by another drag-and-drop operation. Details of a module shown by the icon thus placed can be set up in a detail setup area in the same screen. Information on a format thus set up is retained as a template through a retention function, and accordingly can be used easily by simply calling the information. Moreover, the retained template can be edited as well. This makes it possible not only to create a new template, but also to modify an existing template. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110020949 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - In the field of automatic analyzers, as items to be analyzed are increase, various reagents differing in such properties as liquid viscosity and contact angle are being used more frequently, and this trend is expected to continue. Also, reagents now take various forms (e.g., a concentrated reagent to be diluted by the water of an automatic analyzer), and so does dilution water. Such being the case, the invention provides an automatic analyzer capable of sufficient stirring regardless of items to be analyzed. To sufficiently stir a substance to which a reagent has been added, the automatic analyzer is designed to alter stirring conditions after a given amount of time has passed since the addition of that reagent. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110019200 | APPARATUS FOR VISUAL INSPECTION - An apparatus is provided which reduces the dependency of the direction of polarization on channels of an image sensor so as to improve the sensitivity of inspection. In the apparatus, the direction of an illumination beam incident on a polarizing beam splitter is made to be substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of a field of view of an image sensor projected on the polarizing beam splitter. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110013825 | Method and Apparatus for Analyzing Defect Data and a Review System - In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, defect distribution state analysis is performed so as to facilitate identification of the defect cause including a device cause and a process cause by classifying the defect distribution state according to the defect position coordinates detected by the inspection device, into one of the distribution characteristic categories: repeated defects, clustered defects, arc-shaped regional defects, radial regional defects, line type regional defects, ring and blob type regional defects, and random defects. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110008535 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RESIST APPLICATION - Spots of a resist are deposited in a concentric pattern on both sides of an annular disk. A motor which rotates the disk has a rotating shaft that can be inserted into or removed from a through-hole in the disk. Two ink-jet heads provided on the obverse and reverse sides, respectively, of the disk substrate are provided such that the heads are not in contact with the sides. A carriage for causing the two ink-jet heads to move radially inward or outward with respect to the disk substrate is also provided. The ink-jet heads are moved by the carriage while the disk is rotated by the motor to apply the spots of the resist. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20100327863 | DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING MAGNETIC HEAD, DEVICE FOR INSPECTING MAGNETIC HEAD, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MAGNETIC HEAD - A device for transporting a magnetic head, a device for inspecting a magnetic head, and a method for manufacturing a magnetic head are provided. The device for transporting a magnetic head is capable of freely changing a posture of a thin film magnetic head when transporting a row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head. The transporting device for transporting a slender rectangular plate-like, that is, row bar-shaped magnetic head, cut from a wafer is capable of performing vertical installation and horizontal installation. The transporting device for transporting a slender rectangular plate-like, i.e., row bar-shaped magnetic head, is capable of performing the vertical installation and horizontal installation, and changing the posture of the magnetic head from vertical installation into horizontal installation and from horizontal installation into vertical installation when transporting the magnetic head between processes. The transporting device is capable of performing a slantwise installation in a slantwise state between the vertical installation and the horizontal installation. Therefore, with respect to a vertically or horizontally installed tray when transporting the magnetic head between processes, the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head can be transported easily. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20100320385 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - A scanning electron microscope for digitally processing an image signal to secure the largest focal depth and the best resolution in accordance with the magnification for observation is disclosed. The angle of aperture of an optical system having a plurality of convergence lenses is changed by changing the convergence lenses and the hole diameter of a diaphragm. The angle α of aperture of the electron beam is changed in accordance with the visual field range corresponding to a single pixel, i.e. what is called the pixel size. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100319210 | DISC DRYING DEVICE AND DISC DRYING METHOD - The present invention provides a disc drying device and a disc drying method that allow simultaneous and quick drying of plural discs by a batch process and realize miniaturization of the device. In the present invention, plural discs arranged along a single axis are simultaneously chucked at outer peripheries thereof so that central openings of the discs internally form a space; plural nozzles are disposed in the space so as to supply hot water from inner peripheral surfaces of two sides of each of the discs to heat the discs with the hot water; and the discs are simultaneously rotated to thereby move the hot water from inner peripheries to outer peripheries of the discs and discharge the hot water outwardly of the outer peripheries by centrifugal force. The discharged hot water flows through valley grooves provided in inner wall surfaces of a water receiving cover to the lower side of the discs to be discharged to the outside. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100315626 | OPTICAL APPARATUS FOR DEFECT INSPECTION - An optical apparatus for defect inspection having an illuminating optical system for irradiating illumination light beams on the surface of a specimen to form a beam spot and a detection optical system for detecting a reflection light ray originating from the beam spot comprises a storage unit in which the position and size of a standard particle of known size on a specimen for correction are stored in advance, a correction processing section which, when the correction specimen is used as an inspection target, correlates a detected scattering light quantity from the standard particle with the known size of standard particle stored at a corresponding position in the storage unit to prepare a correlation between the scattering light quantity and a true value, and a signal processing section which, when an inspection wafer is used as an inspection target, converts a detected scattering light quantity into a defect dimension. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100314542 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INSPECTION APPARATUS - A semiconductor device inspection apparatus having a noise subtraction function includes an electron gun, a stage for holding a sample, a main detector for detecting a signal discharged from the sample, and at least one or more sub detector for detecting noise generated from the sample or apparatus so that there can be obtained an image in which the noise caused by discharge generated on the sample or in the apparatus is removed from the signal. The noise subtraction function subtracts the noise detected by the sub detector from the signal detected by the main detector to remove or reduce the noise from the signal. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100310180 | Pattern Inspection Method and Pattern Inspection System - A pattern data examination method and system capable of accurately and speedily examining a circuit pattern without failing to extract pattern contour data are provided. While pattern comparison is ordinarily made by using a secondary electron image, a contour of a pattern element is extracted by using a backscattered electron image said to be suitable for observation and examination of a three dimensional configuration of a pattern element, and pattern inspection is executed by using the extracted contour of the pattern element. More specifically, pattern inspection is executed by comparing a contour of a pattern element with design data such as CAD data to measure a difference between the contour and the data, and by computing, for example, the size of the circuit pattern element from the contour of a pattern. From two or more backscattered electron images formed by detecting backscattered electrons at two or more different spatial positions, pattern contour data contained in the backscattered electron images may be obtained. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100303947 | FINE-STRUCTURE TRANSFER APPARATUS - A fine-structure transfer apparatus has a base plate, a first post and a second post erected on the upper surface of the base plate, an elongated stamper that is fixed at one end to the upper end face of the first post. The stamper is supported at the other end in a vertically movable manner by means of an ascending/descending unit provided on the second post. A transfer element holding stage is provided on the upper surface of the base plate between the first and second posts in a position that corresponds to the position of the lower surface of the elongated stamper where a fine pattern is formed. A pressure-applying unit is provided to reciprocate on the upper surface of the elongated stamper along a longitudinal direction thereof. The transfer apparatus is characterized by the ease with which the stamper can be detached from the transfer element. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100302665 | METHOD FOR MEASURING OPTIMUM SEEKING TIME AND INSPECTION APPARATUS USING THE SAME - The present invention provides a method for measuring an optimum seeking time and an inspection apparatus using this method capable of measuring and setting an optimum seeking time for inspection of a magnetic disk or magnetic head. The method samples average level differences of sector-wise read signals in positive and negative domains for one round of track and detects a minimum value H and a minimum value L among these differences. The method recalculates the seeking time while changing the settling time. After writing and reading test data, calculates a deviation DEV of average levels DEV=(H−L)/(H+L). The method is adapted to obtain a minimum one of the values of settling time having measured when the deviation DEV of average levels is equal to or less than a predetermined value as an optimum settling time or an optimum seeking time. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100289183 | MANUFACTURING METHOD AND MANUFACTURING APPARATUS FOR PATTERNED MEDIA - The present invention includes the steps of: applying resist to a surface of a disk base material mounted on a base; mounting a stamper on the resist, wherein the stamper includes not only an area larger than the disk base material but also a concavo-convex region between chamfered sections for an inner-diameter section and an outer-diameter section of the disk base material; mounting an elastic plate on the stamper, wherein the elastic plate includes an inner-diameter section and an outer-diameter section smaller than chamfered sections of the inner-diameter section and the outer-diameter section of the disk base material and larger than the concavo-convex region of the stamper; mounting a pressing member on the elastic plate and pressing the elastic plate toward the disk base material; exposing the resist and etching the disk base material using the exposed resist as a mask; and removing the remaining resist from the disk base material. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100288830 | AUTOMATIC ANALYZER - An automatic analyzer is disclosed that has a structure capable of using reagent containers each having an ID, such as a barcode, attached either on the top surface or the undersurface thereof, or alternatively on each of them. This automatic analyzer, therefore, allows information about the reagent ID to be read or written at an arbitrary timing even if the mounting density of reagent containers of the automatic analyzer is increased, thereby improving the function and performance of the apparatus. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100288027 | PUMP FOR LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH - A pump device is realized, which accurately detects a flow rate of a pump, performs real-time control of the flow rate, and thus can suppress a flow rate error caused by occurrence of pulsation. Control of a pump rotation speed by a pressure sensor has low responsiveness in a low pressure region, and a correlation between a pressure and a flow rate is incomplete in a high flow rate region. With this taken into consideration, a flow rate sensor | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100285670 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING ETCHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND ASHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD USING PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an asking processing apparatus is less than a diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an etching processing apparatus, and the diameter of the mounting unit of the stage of the etching processing apparatus is less than a diameter of an objective item. | 11-11-2010 |
| 20100271627 | Defect Inspection Method and Defect Inspection Apparatus - Provided are a defect inspection apparatus having a large range for receiving light scattering from fine defects while securing a sufficiently large signal strength; and a defect inspection method for the same. The defect inspection apparatus includes: a stage part capable of traveling relative to optical systems with a substrate to be inspected mounted on the stage part; an illumination optical system for illuminating an inspection area on the substrate; a detection optical system for detecting light coming from the inspection area on the substrate; an image sensor for converting, to a signal, an image which is formed on the image sensor by the detection optical system; a signal processor for detecting defects by processing the signal from the image sensor; and a plane reflecting mirror, arranged between the detection optical system and the substrate, for transmitting the light, which comes from the substrate, to the detection optical system. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100271626 | INSPECTION METHOD AND INSPECTION DEVICE - An inspection method and an inspection device, or apparatus each capable of conducting composition analysis of a defect detected by elastic or stokes scattered light, an inspection surface or defect on the surface of the inspection surface, or a defect on the surface of the inspection object and its internal composition. A surface inspection method for optically detecting elastic or stokes scattering or inelastic or anti-stokes scattered light from inside the surface of the inspection object, for detecting existence of defects of the inspection object and features of the defects, for detecting positions of the detected defects on the surface of the inspection object, classifying and analyzing the detected defects in accordance with their features on the basis of the positions of the defects and the features of the defects or the classification result of the defects. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100271625 | Surface Inspection Method and Surface Inspection Apparatus - A surface inspection method and a surface inspection apparatus in which a plurality of photodetectors are arranged in a plurality of directions so that light scattered, diffracted or reflected on a surface of an object to be inspected or in the vicinity of the surface is detected and a plurality of signals obtained by this are subjected to weighted addition processing or weighted averaging processing by linear combination. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100271473 | DEFECT INSPECTION SYSTEM - A defect inspection system can suppress an effect of light from a sample rough surface or a regular circuit pattern and increasing a gain of light from a defect such as a foreign material to detect the defect on the sample surface with high sensitivity. When a lens with a large NA value is used, the outer diameter of the lens is | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100264330 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM APPLICATION APPARATUS - An apparatus capable of improving image quality by making it possible to suck specimens of different sizes electrostatically, and uniformalizing an electric field of a specimen edge portion, while suppressing increase in prime cost is provided. Specimen holding means is an electrostatic chuck, a master flat plane part surrounding a specimen of the largest size of specimen sizes, and an opening surrounding a specimen size except for the largest specimen size are included at an outer peripheral portion of the electrostatic chuck, a dummy specimen attachable to and detachable from the electrostatic chuck is included, and at a time of switching the specimen size, a dummy specimen is selected (or may be prevented from being used). | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100259750 | Appearance Inspection Apparatus - An appearance inspection apparatus analyzes a difference in detection characteristics of detection signals obtained by detectors to flexibly meet various inspection purposes without changing a circuit or software. The apparatus includes a signal synthesizing section that synthesizes detection signals from the detectors in accordance with a set condition. An input operating section sets a synthesizing condition of the detection signal by the signal synthesizing section, and an information display section displays a synthesizing map structured based on a synthesized signal which is synthesized by the signal synthesizing section in accordance with a condition set by the input operating section. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100258739 | Charged particle beam apparatus - A sample measuring method and a charged particle beam apparatus are provided which remove contaminants, that have adhered to a sample in a sample chamber of an electron microscope, to eliminate adverse effects on the subsequent manufacturing processes. To achieve this objective, after the sample measurement or inspection is made by using a charged particle beam, contaminants on the sample are removed before the next semiconductor manufacturing process. This allows the contaminants adhering to the sample in the sample chamber to be removed and therefore failures or defects that may occur in a semiconductor fabrication process following the measurement and inspection can be minimized. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100258723 | Scanning Electron Microscope Having Time Constant Measurement Capability - In a scanning electron microscope, an optimum scanning method for reducing the amount of deflection of a primary electron beam and secondary electrons is determined to acquire stable images. An energy filter is used to discriminate between energy levels. The change in yield of obtained electrons is used to measure the variation in specimen potential. The time constant of charging created during electron beam irradiation is extracted. The scanning method is optimized based on the extracted time constant to reduce the distortion and magnification variation that appear in a SEM image. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100253938 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND OPTICAL INSPECTION APPARATUS - In the conventional contaminant particle/defect inspection method, if the illuminance of the illumination beam is held at not more than a predetermined upper limit value not to give thermal damage to the sample, the detection sensitivity and the inspection speed being in the tradeoff relation with each other, it is very difficult to improve one of the detection sensitivity and the inspection speed without sacrificing the other or improve both at the same time. The invention provides an improved optical inspection method and an improved optical inspection apparatus, in which a pulse laser is used as a light source, and a laser beam flux is split into a plurality of laser beam fluxes which are given different time delay to form a plurality of illumination spots. The scattered light signal from each illumination spot is isolated and detected by using a light emission start timing signal for each illumination spot. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100248166 | Deflector Array, Exposure Apparatus, and Device Manufacturing Method - A deflector array includes a plurality of deflectors, which deflect charged particle beams, arrayed on a substrate. Each of the plurality of deflectors includes a single opening formed in the substrate, and each of the plurality of deflectors includes a pair of electrodes that oppose each other through the opening and are configured to deflect a single charged particle beam. The plurality of deflectors are arrayed such that a length of the pair of electrodes in a longitudinal direction thereof is not less than a distance between centers of two of the plurality of deflectors that are located nearest to each other. The plurality of deflectors is arrayed to form a checkerboard lattice, and two openings of the two of the plurality of deflectors overlap in the longitudinal direction. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100246357 | METHOD FOR DETECTING SURFACE DEFECTS IN PATTERNED MEDIA - An optical defect detection method for patterned media includes: irradiating a laser beam onto a patterned medium and obtaining reflected light by reflection very close to a sample; outputting the reflected light as an analog electrical signal from an optical receiver; converting the analog signal to a digital signal; obtaining a surface profile in a track direction by sampling the analog signal; obtaining a servo area profile by setting a slice for detecting servo area; calculating an average value in a track width direction based on plural servo area profiles; generating a master servo area profile based on the average value; obtaining a difference between the master servo area profile and the specific servo area profile; and detecting the presence of a defect including surface roughness, process fluctuation, and adhesion of foreign matters, from a differential waveform. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100246356 | DISK SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS - The present invention provides a disk surface defect inspection method including: irradiating a laser beam from an oblique direction onto a disk surface being rotated; detecting intensities of a first light that is scattered with low-angle and a second light that is scattered with high-angle from minute concave and convex defects; determining that a defect is the minute convex defect if a ratio of the intensity of the first light to the intensity of the second light is constant; and determining that a defect is the minute concave defect if the ratio of the intensity of the first light to the intensity of the second light is changed. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100241386 | Method of Correcting Coordinates, and Defect Review Apparatus - The present invention provides a method of correcting coordinates so as to quickly and properly arrange a sample in a field of view in a review apparatus for moving a sample stage onto the specified coordinates to review the sample. A review apparatus according to the present invention, which is a review apparatus for moving a sample stage onto coordinates previously calculated by a checking apparatus to review the sample, has a function of retaining a plurality of coordinate correction tables to correct a deviation between a coordinate value previously calculated by a checking apparatus and an actual sample position detected by the review apparatus. The review apparatus evaluates correction accuracy of the plurality of coordinate correction tables and applies one of the coordinate correction tables with the maximum evaluation value. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100239156 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VISUAL INSPECTION - A visual inspection apparatus includes an image-data acquisition unit for acquiring plural pieces of image data A to C on an inspection target, image comparison units for comparing the image data A to C with each other thereby to create plural pieces of sign-affixed difference-image data D and E, the image data A to C being acquired by the image-data acquisition unit, difference-image comparison units for determining the difference between the sign-affixed difference-image data D and E created by the image comparison units, and a judgment unit for subjecting, to a threshold-value processing, difference data F between the difference-image data D and E, the difference data F being acquired by the difference-image comparison units, obtaining a detection sensitivity by enlarging the difference between an abnormal signal level of an image of an area where an abnormality exists from the visual inspection. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100237241 | Electrostatic Charge Measurement Method, Focus Adjustment Method, and Scanning Electron Microscope - A method and a device are disclosed for suppressing error in electrostatic charge amount or defocus on the basis of electrostatic charge storage due to electron beam scanning when measuring the electrostatic charge amount of the sample or a focus adjustment amount by scanning the electron beam. An electrostatic charge measurement method, a focus adjustment method, or a scanning electron microscope for measuring an electrostatic charge amount or controlling an application voltage to the sample changes the application voltage to the energy filter while moving the scanning location of the electron beam on the sample. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100231900 | OPTICAL DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS - A laser beam oscillated from a laser source is folded in its path by first and second plane mirrors and enters a beam expander. The surface of each plane mirror is deteriorated with illumination by the laser beam and the reflectance is reduced. To avoid a light quantity of the laser beam entering the beam expander from being reduced below a reference value, when the laser beam is illuminated over a certain time, a position on each of the first and second plane mirrors at which the laser beam is illuminated is changed by a structure for rotating and/or translating a reflecting surface of each plane mirror on a plane, which includes the plane mirror, while an optical axis is kept same. Thus, the useful life of each plane mirror can be prolonged without displacing the optical axis. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100230592 | Sample Transfer Unit and Sample Transferring Method - There is provided a mini environment type transfer unit which can efficiently transfer a sample to a critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) even in the case of use of a SMIF pod which can store only one photomask. In addition to a load port, a stocker which can store a plurality of photomasks is provided in the mini environment type transfer unit. A mask storage slot in which a plurality of storage units are stacked is provided in the stocker, and one photomask is stored in each storage unit. A sensor is provided in each storage unit to determine whether or not the photomask is normally stored. Additionally, a sensor is provided in each storage unit to detect whether or not the photomask exists. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100225907 | SURFACE INSPECTION WITH VARIABLE DIGITAL FILTERING - A semiconductor wafer, which is an inspection object, is stuck by vacuum on a chuck and this chuck is mounted on an inspection object movement stage consisting of a rotational stage and a translational stage, located on a Z-stage. The rotational stage provides a rotational movement and the translational stage provides a translational movement. And when a foreign particle or a defect on an inspection object surface is detected, the parameter of digital filtering is dynamically changed during inspection, and the foreign particle or the defect is differentiated using the result after removing a low frequency fluctuation component to be a noise component. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100219548 | FINE-STRUCTURE TRANSFER APPARATUS AND METHOD - A fine-structure transfer method in which a fine-featured pattern formed on one of the two surfaces of a stamper is pressed against a coating of a resist on one of the two surfaces of a transfer element so as to transfer the fine-featured pattern to the resist coating, wherein the atmosphere in the space between the stamper and the transfer element is replaced by the vapor of the resist before the stamper is pressed against the transfer element. Also disclosed is a fine-structure transfer apparatus having at least a stamper and a stage on which to place a transfer element having a coating of a resist, further having a device for heating the resist coating to be vaporized or a device for supplying the vapor of the resist into the space between the stamper and the transfer element. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100214686 | HEAD POSITIONING METHOD FOR ECCENTRIC TRACK AND HEAD POSITIONING CONTROL DEVICE - Drive waveforms with which extension and contraction characteristics of an actuator corresponding to a number of track eccentricity amounts are stored as data. By reading servo information written in a disk is obtained as a signal indicating a head displacement amount from a track. The head is moved in a direction in which the track is displaced by obtaining an amplitude corresponding to a slip amount of the head position and a rotation angle of maximum eccentricity, reading drive waveforms which is optimal in driving the actuator from the memory and driving the actuator with a drive waveform matched with the rotation angle at which the eccentricity is maximum. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100214561 | DEFECT INSPECTING APPARATUS - A defect inspecting apparatus of the invention solves a problem that in a defect inspecting apparatus, because of improving detection sensitivity of a microscopic defect by reducing a detection pixel size, a focal depth becomes shallow, a height of imaging is varied due to environmental change and the detection sensitivity of a defect becomes unstable. This apparatus comprises an XY stage, which carries a substrate to be inspected and scans in a predetermined direction, and a mechanism having a system of irradiating a defect on the inspected substrate at a slant and detecting the defect by a detection optical system disposed on the upper side, which corrects a height of imaging in real time for change in temperature and barometric pressure in order to keep the imaging in a best condition. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100213371 | SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE - A technique executes autofocus adjustment stably even when a plurality of patterns or foreign matter capable of being imaged only by a specific detector are included independently. Such an image as a concavo-convex image having a weak contrast can be picked up. The technique can automatically focus such an image even when it is difficult to find a focus position in the image. A scanning electron microscope includes a plurality of detectors for detecting secondary signals from a specimen when irradiated with an electron beam, and a calculation unit for combining the signals obtained from the detectors. At least two of the detectors are provided to be symmetric with respect to the electron beam. The focus of the electron beam is adjusted based on the signals of the detectors or on a signal corresponding to a combination of the signals. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100202654 | PATTERN MEASUREMENT APPARATUS - Mutual compatibility is established between the measurement with a high magnification and the measurement in a wide region. A pattern measurement apparatus is proposed which adds identification information to each of fragments that constitute a pattern within an image obtained by the SEM, and which stores the identification information in a predetermined storage format. Here, the identification information is added to each fragment for distinguishing between one fragment and another fragment. According to the above-described configuration, it turns out that the identification information is added to each fragment on the SEM image which has possessed no specific identification information originally. As a result, it becomes possible to implement the SEM-image management based on the identification information. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100200749 | Semiconductor Testing Method and Semiconductor Tester - A semiconductor testing method capable of quickly counting semiconductor cells in which a seemingly horizontal or vertical line is drawn with a mouse, and raster rotation is performed in alignment with the closer axis. After that, the stage is horizontally moved, pattern matching is performed on an image on a position where the image should be disposed, and an angle is adjusted. The stage is moved evenly along the X-axis and the Y-axis, achieving a movement to a destination like a straight line. In synchronization with the smooth movement of the stage, a cell is surrounded in a rectangular frame by a ruler, and the number of cells is displayed with a numeric value. | 08-12-2010 |
