Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090012743 | Surface Measurement Instrument - A surface measurement instrument ( | 01-08-2009 |
20090319225 | APPARATUS FOR AND A METHOD OF DETERMINING SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS - Light from a light source ( | 12-24-2009 |
20100161273 | APPARATUS FOR AND A METHOD OF DETERMINING SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS - A coherence scanning interferometer ( | 06-24-2010 |
20110166823 | SURFACE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT - A surface measurement instrument for obtaining surface characteristic data of a sample surface is described. Relative movement between a reference surface and a sample support is caused to occur while a sensor senses light intensity at intervals along a scan path to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during said relative movement and from which series of intensity values surface characteristic data can be derived. The sample support is both translatable and tiltable in at least one direction perpendicular to a scan direction so that the sample support can be both tilted to cause the scan path to be normal to the sample surface region and translated to compensate for translation movement due to the tilting. | 07-07-2011 |
20120004888 | APPARATUS FOR AND A METHOD OF DETERMINING SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS - A coherence scanning interferometer carries out: a coherence scanning measurement operation on a surface area using a low numeric aperture objective so that the pitch of the surface structure elements is less that the spread of the point spread function at the surface to obtain structure surface intensity data; and a coherence scanning measurement operation on a non-structure surface area to obtain non-structure surface intensity data. A frequency transform ratio determiner determines a frequency transform ratio related to the ratio between the structure surface intensity data and the non-structure surface intensity data. A structure provider sets that frequency transform ratio equal to an expression representing the electric field at the image plane of the interferometer in terms of surface structure element size (height or depth) and width-to-pitch ratio and derives the surface structure element size and width-to-pitch ratio using the frequency transform ratio. | 01-05-2012 |
20120176624 | APPARATUS FOR AND A METHOD OF DETERMINING SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS - Light reflected by a sample surface region and a reference surface interfere. A detector senses light intensity at intervals during relative movement along a scan path between the sample surface and the reference surface to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes. A data processor receives first intensity data comprising a first series of intensity values resulting from a measurement operation on a surface area of a substrate and second intensity data comprising a second series of intensity values resulting from a measurement operation on a surface area of a thin film structure. A gain is determined for each thin film of the thin film structure. Substrate and apparent thin film structure surface characteristics are determined on the basis of the first and second intensity data, respectively. The apparent thin film structure surface characteristic is modified using the substrate surface characteristic and the determined gain or gains. | 07-12-2012 |
20150025844 | SURFACE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD - A metrological apparatus has a workpiece support surface ( | 01-22-2015 |
20150025845 | SURFACE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD - A stylus is deflected as a tip of the stylus follows surface variations along a measurement path on a surface of a workpiece. A transducer provides measurement data in a measurement coordinate system. A data processor is configured to: determine a relationship between the data in the measurement coordinate system and nominal surface data representing the expected surface characteristic of the workpiece in a workpiece coordinate system; simulate a measurement data set for the nominal surface using the nominal surface data and the determined relationship; if a simulated range of the simulated data set does not meet a given criterion, adjust a selected measurement data value for a selected point and repeat the simulation to determine an adjusted data value for which the simulated range meets the criterion; and determine start conditions required for a measurement procedure to provide the adjusted data value for the selected measurement point. | 01-22-2015 |