US5331407A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern
Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
•
Filing: 1992-03-04
•
Granted: 1994-07-19
•
Expires: 2012-03-04
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprise a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected, means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of the stage, a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern, an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by the detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal, means of calculating the amount of expansion or contraction of the object by detecting the distance between specific patterns on the object, and drive control means which produces a clock signal for the opto-electric transducer based on the stage movement signal provided by the signal generation means and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Inventors
- 👤 Hideaki Doi
- 👤 Yasuhiko Hara
- 👤 Koichi Karasaki
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 12:00
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N21/00; G01N21/84; G01N21/88; G01N21/95; G01N21/956
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim
112 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; and drive control means which produces a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer based on the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
112 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; and drive control means which produces a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer based on the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
64 words
A circuit pattern detection apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: means of generating a reference pattern; means of aligning relatively the reference pattern provided by said reference pattern generation means and the image signal provided by said opto-electric transducer; and a judgement means which compares the reference pattern and the detected image signal aligned by said alignment means thereby to detect a defect.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern according to claim 1, further comprising means of conducting an illumination light, said conducting means having an outlet corresponding to the detection area of a sensor of said opto-electric transducer.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
134 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; means of calculating the amount of expansion or contraction of the object by detecting the distance between specific patterns on the object; and drive control means which produces a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer based on the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
134 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; means of calculating the amount of expansion or contraction of the object by detecting the distance between specific patterns on the object; and drive control means which produces a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer based on the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
64 words
A circuit pattern detection apparatus according to claim 4 further comprising: means of generating a reference pattern; means of aligning relatively the reference pattern provided by said reference pattern generation means and the image signal provided by said opto-electric transducer; and a judgement means which compares the reference pattern and the detected image signal aligned by said alignment means thereby to detect a defect.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
124 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; and drive control means which counts the number of pulses of the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means, generates a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer when the count has reached a predetermined value, and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
124 words
An apparatus for detecting a circuit pattern comprising: a stage for mounting an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; means of generating a signal in response to the amount of movement of said stage; a detection optical system for detecting the circuit pattern; an opto-electric transducer which receives the image of the pattern provided by said detection optical system and transforms the image into an image signal; and drive control means which counts the number of pulses of the stage movement signal provided by said signal generation means, generates a clock signal for said opto-electric transducer when the count has reached a predetermined value, and varies the clock signal so as to vary the dimension of the detected image arbitrarily.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
59 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern comprising: means of generating a pattern based on design information which is n times (n is a positive integer) as large as an output image dimension; and means of latching the generated pattern and reading out the latched pattern m times (m is a positive integer) thereby to obtain a reference pattern.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
59 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern comprising: means of generating a pattern based on design information which is n times (n is a positive integer) as large as an output image dimension; and means of latching the generated pattern and reading out the latched pattern m times (m is a positive integer) thereby to obtain a reference pattern.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
94 words
A method of detecting a circuit pattern, comprising the steps of: generating a signal in response to an amount of movement of a stage which mounts an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; generating a variable clock signal for an opto-electric transducer, the clock signal being a variable at least in accordance with the generated amount of movement signal; and receiving by the opto-electric transducer an image of the circuit pattern provided by a detection optical system and producing an image signal thereof in accordance with the variable clock signal.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
94 words
A method of detecting a circuit pattern, comprising the steps of: generating a signal in response to an amount of movement of a stage which mounts an object under inspection having a circuit pattern to be detected; generating a variable clock signal for an opto-electric transducer, the clock signal being a variable at least in accordance with the generated amount of movement signal; and receiving by the opto-electric transducer an image of the circuit pattern provided by a detection optical system and producing an image signal thereof in accordance with the variable clock signal.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 8, wherein the object under inspection is inspected by comparing the circuit pattern to be detected with a reference pattern.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
67 words
A method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of: detecting a distance between specific circuit patterns on the object under inspection; calculating an amount of expansion or contraction of the object in accordance with the detected distance; varying the variable clock signal in accordance with the calculated amount; and utilizing the opto-electric transducer for producing the image signal in accordance with the variable clock signal.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the object under inspection is inspected by comparing the circuit pattern to be detected with a reference pattern.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
79 words
A method of detecting a circuit pattern, comprising the steps of: moving an object under inspection and a sensor relative to one another in steps so that detection areas overlap; detecting a circuit pattern on the object under inspection with the sensor by varying the amount of step movement; aligning the detected circuit pattern and a reference circuit pattern; and inspecting the circuit pattern based upon a comparison of the aligned detected circuit pattern and the reference circuit pattern.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
79 words
A method of detecting a circuit pattern, comprising the steps of: moving an object under inspection and a sensor relative to one another in steps so that detection areas overlap; detecting a circuit pattern on the object under inspection with the sensor by varying the amount of step movement; aligning the detected circuit pattern and a reference circuit pattern; and inspecting the circuit pattern based upon a comparison of the aligned detected circuit pattern and the reference circuit pattern.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 12, wherein the reference circuit pattern is generated based upon design information of the circuit pattern.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
80 words
A method of generating a reference pattern, comprising the steps of: utilizing design information of a pattern having a predetermined pixel size in relation to a pixel size of a pattern to be inspected; generating a pattern in accordance with the design information; latching the generated pattern; and reading out the latched generated pattern at a predetermined frequency so as to obtain a reference pattern having a pixel size corresponding to the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
80 words
A method of generating a reference pattern, comprising the steps of: utilizing design information of a pattern having a predetermined pixel size in relation to a pixel size of a pattern to be inspected; generating a pattern in accordance with the design information; latching the generated pattern; and reading out the latched generated pattern at a predetermined frequency so as to obtain a reference pattern having a pixel size corresponding to the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method according to claim 14, wherein the predetermined pixel size of the pattern of the design information is n times the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected, n being a positive integer greater than 1.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of latching includes utilizing a line memory for storing the generated pattern, and the step of reading out includes reading out the stored generated pattern from the line memory at the predetermined frequency.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
79 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern, comprising: means for generating a pattern in accordance with design information of a pattern having a predetermined pixel size in relation to a pixel size of a pattern to be inspected; means for latching the generated pattern; and means for reading out the latched generated pattern at a predetermined frequency so as to obtain a reference pattern having a pixel size corresponding to the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
79 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern, comprising: means for generating a pattern in accordance with design information of a pattern having a predetermined pixel size in relation to a pixel size of a pattern to be inspected; means for latching the generated pattern; and means for reading out the latched generated pattern at a predetermined frequency so as to obtain a reference pattern having a pixel size corresponding to the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
38 words
An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the predetermined pixel size of the pattern of the design information is n times the pixel size of the pattern to be inspected, n being a positive integer greater than 1.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
45 words
An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the means for latching the generated pattern includes a line memory for storing the generated pattern, and the means for reading out enables reading out of the stored generated pattern from the line memory at the predetermined frequency.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
60 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern comprising: means for generating a pattern based on design information having a pixel size n times an output image dimension of a desired reference pattern; means for latching the generated pattern; and means for reading out the latched pattern m times to obtain the reference pattern; where n and m are positive integers.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
60 words
An apparatus for generating a reference pattern comprising: means for generating a pattern based on design information having a pixel size n times an output image dimension of a desired reference pattern; means for latching the generated pattern; and means for reading out the latched pattern m times to obtain the reference pattern; where n and m are positive integers.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
56 words
An apparatus for generating a two-dimensional reference pattern comprising: means for generating a pattern based on design information; means for storing the generated pattern in a line memory; and means for reading out the stored generated pattern k times from the line memory so as to obtain the reference pattern, where k is a positive integer.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
56 words
An apparatus for generating a two-dimensional reference pattern comprising: means for generating a pattern based on design information; means for storing the generated pattern in a line memory; and means for reading out the stored generated pattern k times from the line memory so as to obtain the reference pattern, where k is a positive integer.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1997-07-18 | 1998-01-17 | 1998-07-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2001-07-18 | 2002-01-17 | 2002-07-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2005-07-18 | 2006-01-17 | 2006-07-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |