Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090038637 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INDIRECT SURFACE CLEANING - A method for laser surface cleaning of a target surface that has limited or no access to the environment directly above the surface to be cleaned. The method includes the ability to clean the surface with a reduced risk of substrate damage. The method includes direct laser excitation of a contaminated substrate surface and thermal transfer from the substrate to the contaminating particulate or contamination layer. The method also includes producing a thermally based removal and reducing a risk of substrate damage by keeping the temperature required to produce surface cleaning below the thermal damage level of the substrate material. In addition, the method includes reducing the risk of substrate damage by utilizing relatively long pulse-widths, providing for improved removal of small contaminants/particles, and directing the beam through a material disposed relative to the surface that is part of the substrates environmental enclosure. | 02-12-2009 |
20090065024 | Apparatus and Method for Indirect Surface Cleaning - Methods for cleaning a surface of a substrate and for increasing the useable lifetime of a photomask substrate are provided. In one method, a substrate has at least one radiation-produced particle disposed thereon, and a laser that has a wavelength that substantially coincides with a high absorption coefficient of the substrate is directed towards the substrate. A thermal increase is generated in the substrate, and the radiation-produced particle is removed from the substrate by transferring thermal energy from the substrate to the radiation-produced particle until the radiation-produced particle decomposes. | 03-12-2009 |
20090070979 | Vertical indent production repair - A method of nanomachining is provided. The method includes plunging a nanometer-scaled tip into a surface of a substrate at a first location in a first direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface, thereby displacing a first portion of the substrate with the tip. The method also includes withdrawing the tip from the substrate in a second direction that is substantially opposite to the first direction. The method further includes moving at least one of the tip and the substrate laterally relative to each other. In addition, the method also includes plunging the tip into the substrate at a second location in a third direction that is substantially parallel to the first direction, thereby displacing a second portion of the substrate with the tip and withdrawing the tip from the substrate in a fourth direction that is substantially opposite to the third direction. | 03-19-2009 |
20120231397 | Wafer Fabrication Process - A wafer fabrication process with removal of haze formation from a pellicalized photomask surface is provided. The wafer fabrication process includes pre-print wafer processing, wafer print processing using at least one photomask having a pellicle, photomask clean processing, wafer print processing using the photomask, and post-print wafer processing. The photomask clean processing step includes directing a laser through the pellicle towards an inorganic particle disposed on the photomask to remove the particle from the photomask by thermal decomposition. | 09-13-2012 |
20130276818 | Apparatus And Method For Indirect Surface Cleaning - Methods for cleaning a surface of a substrate and for increasing the useable lifetime of a photomask substrate are provided. In one method, the surface of a substrate having a contaminating particulate disposed thereon is cleaned by directing a laser towards the substrate, generating a temperature increase in the substrate and transferring thermal energy from the substrate to the particulate to decompose the particulate. The laser has a wavelength that is substantially the same as a local maximum of the substrate absorption spectrum. | 10-24-2013 |
20140069457 | Apparatus And Method For Indirect Surface Cleaning - Methods for cleaning a surface of a photomask and for increasing the useable lifetime of the photomask are disclosed. One method includes, a first wafer print processing using a photomask and a pellicle disposed across the photomask, and cleaning the photomask. The cleaning the photomask includes directing a laser beam through the pellicle toward the photomask, the laser beam having a wavelength that is substantially equal to a local maximum of an absorption spectrum of the photomask, heating the photomask with the laser beam, and transferring heat from the photomask to a contaminant disposed on the photomask, thereby thermally decomposing the contaminant. | 03-13-2014 |
20140283873 | Apparatus and Method For Indirect Surface Cleaning - Methods for cleaning a surface of a photomask and for increasing the useable lifetime of the photomask are disclosed. One method includes, a first wafer print processing using a photomask and a pellicle disposed across the photomask, and cleaning the photomask. The cleaning the photomask includes directing a laser beam through the pellicle toward the photomask, the laser beam having a wavelength that is substantially equal to a local maximum of an absorption spectrum of the photomask, heating the photomask with the laser beam, and transferring heat from the photomask to a contaminant disposed on the photomask, thereby thermally decomposing the contaminant. | 09-25-2014 |
20150185602 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INDIRECT SURFACE CLEANING - A photomask includes at least one feature disposed thereon. The at least one feature has an associated design location, where a distance between a location of the at least one feature and the associated design location defines a positional error of the at least one feature. A method for improving a performance characteristic of the photomask includes directing electromagnetic radiation toward the photomask, the electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength that substantially coincides with a high absorption coefficient of the photomask; generating a thermal energy increase in the photomask through incidence of the electromagnetic radiation thereon; and decreasing the positional error as a result of the generating the thermal energy increase in the photomask. | 07-02-2015 |