619 results about "End point detection" patented technology

Method and system for real-time in-situ interactive supervision of a step performed in a tool during semiconductor wafer fabrication process. The system includes a tool and the computer attached thereto, an end point detection controller, a database and a supervisor to supervise the whole wafer processing for that step. The controller is used to monitor a key process parameter of the step and is adapted to perform in-situ measurements. The database contains the evolution of said process parameter in normal operating conditions and in all the identified deviations. It further contains the history of the wafer until this step and a reference to the batch and process names for this step and the wafer identification number. At the end of the step, the important process parameters and any alert code are stored in the database to up-date the wafer history. This technique allows a total clusterized wafer fabrication process and prevents wafer rejection.

Methods and substrate processing systems for analyzing an end point of a process are provided. By-products of the process are detected and monitored to determine the completion of various types of reaction processes within a substrate processing chamber. The methods provide real time process monitoring, thereby reducing the need to rigidly constrain other substrate processing parameters, increasing chamber cleaning efficiency, and / or increasing substrate processing throughput.

Methods and apparatus for film measurement and endpoint detection in a noisy environment, such as CMP processing of semiconductor wafers, are disclosed, characterized by the use of spectral analysis of intensity data derived from light reflected off the sample to estimate film thickness or detect an endpoint condition.

A maskless patterning apparatus allows for laser beam ablation of one or more layers of material while not etching an underlying different material layer. A micromirror array produces the desired complex pattern on the workpiece and a continuous feature and end point detection system provides location and material parameter changes to accurately control the pattern position and depth of etching. End point detection includes monitoring energy reflected from a specially prepared replica of the material to be ablated, whose thickness and consistency match the active workpiece area. The process terminates when the proper amount of material is removed.

An apparatus for detecting the end-point of an electropolishing process of a metal layer formed on a wafer includes an end-point detector. The end-point detector is disposed adjacent the nozzle used to electropolish the wafer. In one embodiment, the end-point detector is configured to measure the optical reflectivity of the portion of the wafer being electropolished.

The present application relates to polishing pads for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of substrates, and methods of fabrication and use thereof. The pads described in this invention are customized to polishing specifications where specifications include (but not limited to) to the material being polished, chip design and architecture, chip density and pattern density, equipment platform and type of slurry used. These pads can be designed with a specialized polymeric nano-structure with a long or short range order which allows for molecular level tuning achieving superior themo-mechanical characteristics. More particularly, the pads can be designed and fabricated so that there is both uniform and nonuniform spatial distribution of chemical and physical properties within the pads. In addition, these pads can be designed to tune the coefficient of friction by surface engineering, through the addition of solid lubricants, and creating low shear integral pads having multiple layers of polymeric material which form an interface parallel to the polishing surface. The pads can also have controlled porosity, embedded abrasive, novel grooves on the polishing surface, for slurry transport, which are produced in situ, and a transparent region for endpoint detection.

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for establishing endpoint during an alternating cyclical etch process or time division multiplexed process. A substrate is placed within a plasma chamber and subjected to an alternating cyclical process having an etching step and a deposition step. A variation in plasma emission intensity is monitored using known optical emission spectrometry techniques. An amplitude information is extracted from a complex waveform of the plasma emission intensity using an envelope follower algorithm. The alternating cyclical process is discontinued when endpoint is reached at a time that is based on the monitoring step.

An improved method for determining endpoint of a time division multiplexed process by monitoring an identified region of a spectral emission of the process at a characteristic process frequency. The region is identified based upon the expected emission spectra of materials used during the time division multiplexed process. The characteristic process frequency is determined based upon the duration of the steps in the time division multiplexed process. Changes in the magnitude of the monitored spectra indicate the endpoint of processes in the time division multiplexed process and transitions between layers of materials.

A method of producing a diagram for use in selecting wavelengths of light in optical polishing end point detection is provided. The method includes polishing a surface of a substrate having a film by a polishing pad; applying light to the surface of the substrate and receiving reflected light from the substrate during the polishing of the substrate; calculating relative reflectances of the reflected light at respective wavelengths; determining wavelengths of the reflected light which indicate a local maximum point and a local minimum point of the relative reflectances which vary with a polishing time; identifying a point of time when the wavelengths, indicating the local maximum point and the local minimum point, are determined; and plotting coordinates, specified by the wavelengths and the point of time corresponding to the wavelengths, onto a coordinate system having coordinate axes indicating wavelength of the light and polishing time.

The present invention provides an end point detection method and system of a voice identification system, wherein the method comprises the steps of training an acoustics identification model based on a long / short term memory neural network; primarily identifying a voice end point of a to-be-identified voice signal by a preset voice end point detection algorithm; extracting the voice characteristic information of the to-be-identified voice signal frame by frame, and inputting the voice characteristic information in the acoustics identification model to enable the acoustics identification model to generate an acoustics identification result of the to-be-identified voice signal according to the voice characteristic information; adjusting the primarily identified voice end point according to the acoustics identification result. The end point detection method of the voice identification system of the embodiment of the present invention provides an end point detection mode of adjusting the primarily identified voice end point by the acoustics identification result, thereby positioning the voice end point of the to-be-identified voice signal accurately, improving the voice end point detection accuracy, and further being able to improve the voice identification accuracy, and improving the performance of the voice identification system.

A system and method for detecting an endpoint during a chemical mechanical polishing process is disclosed that includes illuminating a first portion of a surface of a wafer with a first broad beam of light. A first reflected spectrum data is received. The first reflected spectrum of data corresponds to a first spectra of light reflected from the first illuminated portion of the surface of the wafer. A second portion of the surface of the wafer with a second broad beam of light. A second reflected spectrum data is received. The second reflected spectrum of data corresponds to a second spectra of light reflected from the second illuminated portion of the surface of the wafer. The first reflected spectrum data is normalized and the second reflected spectrum data is normalized. An endpoint is determined based on a difference between the normalized first spectrum data and the normalized second spectrum data.

A method for performing a network handoff between different network communication providers for a wireless endpoint includes: calculating a first cost value for a first network detected by the wireless endpoint according to a first cost function calculation, calculating a second cost value for a second network detected by the wireless endpoint according to a second cost function calculation, utilizing a cost function based wavelet predictor to determine a network handoff time according to at least one of the first and second cost functions, and executing the network handoff between the first network and the second network at the network handoff time, wherein the cost function based wavelet predictor is for predicting future trends of various network characteristics.

Plasma etching or resputtering of a layer of sputtered materials including opaque metal conductor materials may be controlled in a sputter reactor system. In one embodiment, resputtering of a sputter deposited layer is performed after material has been sputtered deposited and while additional material is being sputter deposited onto a substrate. A path positioned within a chamber of the system directs light or other radiation emitted by the plasma to a chamber window or other optical view-port which is protected by a shield against deposition by the conductor material. In one embodiment, the radiation path is folded to reflect plasma light around the chamber shield and through the window to a detector positioned outside the chamber window. Although deposition material may be deposited onto portions of the folded radiation path, in many applications, the deposition material will be sufficiently reflective to permit the emission spectra to be detected by a spectrometer or other suitable detector without significant signal loss. The etching or resputtering may be terminated when the detector detects that an underlying layer has been reached or when some other suitable process point has been reached.

The invention relates to a method for extracting and identifying characteristics of an electro-ocular signal, which is characterized by comprising three stages, namely pretreatment of the electro-ocular signal, extraction of characteristic parameters of the electro-ocular signal and mode identification of the electro-ocular signal, wherein in the pretreatment stage, endpoint detection and bandpass filtering on the electro-ocular signal are carried out; in the characteristic parameter extraction stage, frame separation and windowing on the electro-ocular signal are carried out, and an electro-ocular characteristic parameter sequence changed along with time after converting the continuous electro-ocular signal into a plurality of sections of short-time electro-ocular signals is extracted; and in the mode identification stage, similarity comparison between the input electro-ocular characteristic parameter sequence and each template of a template base sequentially through a dynamic time normalization method is carried out so as to judge the corresponding eye movement of the operator. The method has the characteristics of high identification accuracy of the electro-ocular signal, certain antijamming capacity, strong application value and the like.

A combined laser and charged particle beam system. A pulsed laser enables milling of a sample at material removal rates several orders of magnitude larger than possible for a focused ion beam. In some embodiments, a scanning electron microscope enables high resolution imaging of the sample during laser processing. In some embodiments, a focused ion beam enables more precise milling of the sample. A method and structure for deactivating the imaging detectors during laser milling enables the removal of imaging artifacts arising from saturation of the detector due to a plasma plume generated by the laser beam. In some embodiments, two types of detectors are employed: type-1 detectors provide high gain imaging during scanning of the sample with an electron or ion beam, while type-2 detectors enable lower gain imaging and endpoint detection during laser milling.

The invention discloses a screening system for sleep apnea syndrome in family environment, comprising a snore data obtaining module, a snore processing module and a distinguishing module, wherein the data obtaining module is used for collecting the snore data; the snore signal processing module is used for firstly performing the preprocess of the voice signals such as framing, pre-emphasizing and window adding and then completing the end point detection for the snore by a double-gate detecting method; the first ten frame data of the snore sample is taken as the first measure of the background noise in the process of performing end point detection; and then the data of snore section is transmitted to an energy-ratio solution module. Finally, resolving the features of the energy ratio of the snore section and then transmitting the features of the energy ratio to the distinguishing module. The distinguishing module takes the energy ratio as the categorical data; if the energy ratio of a patient is higher than a certain threshold quantity, then the patient is distinguished as OSAS sufferer; if not, then the patient is the single snorer. The invention provides a system that brings less interference for the sleep of the patient and low cost and can still reach higher screening precision even in family environment.

An end point detection system may compare a production image developed during processing of production semiconductor wafer with a reference image. The reference image is representative of a desired state of processing of the production semiconductor wafer. The reference image is determined by processing a reference semiconductor wafer. The reference semiconductor wafer may be part of a wafer group of similar wafers that includes the production semiconductor wafer. The end point detection system may dynamically develop the production image during processing of the production semiconductor wafer. Indication may be provided by the end point detection system when the reference image and the production image are substantially similar.

A method for constructing a magnetic write head for use in perpendicular magnetic recording, the write head having a write pole with a trailing shield that wraps around the write pole. The method allows the trailing shield to be constructed with a very well controlled trailing gap thickness and also allows the write pole to be constructed with a well controlled track width and a straight, flat trailing edge. The method includes depositing a magnetic write pole over a substrate and forming a mask structure over the write pole layer. The mask structure includes an end point detection layer that can be removed by reactive ion etching. An ion mill is performed to form a write pole by removing magnetic write pole material that is not covered by the mask layer. A layer of non-magnetic material such as alumina is deposited and is ion milled to expose the end point detection layer. The end point detection layer is then removed by reactive ion etch and a magnetic wrap around trailing shield is deposited.

The present invention relates to a processing end point detection method for detecting a timing of a processing end point (e.g., polishing stop, changing of polishing conditions) by calculating a characteristic value of a surface of a workpiece (an object of polishing) such as a substrate. This method includes producing a spectral waveform indicating a relationship between reflection intensities and wavelengths at a processing end point, with use of a reference workpiece or simulation calculation, based on the spectral waveform, selecting wavelengths of a local maximum value and a local minimum value of the reflection intensities, calculating the characteristic value with respect to a surface, to be processed, from reflection intensities at the selected wavelengths, setting a distinctive point of time variation of the characteristic value at a processing end point of the workpiece as the processing end point, and detecting the processing end point of the workpiece by detecting the distinctive point during processing of the workpiece.

Techniques for detecting endpoints during semiconductor dry-etching processes are described. The dry-etching process of the present invention involves using a combination of a reactive material and a charged particle beam, such as an electron beam. In another embodiment, a photon beam is used to facilitate the etching process. The endpoint detection techniques involve monitoring the emission levels of secondary electrons and backscatter electrons together with the current within the sample. Depending upon the weight given to each of these parameters, an endpoint is identified when the values of these parameters change more than a certain percentage, relative to an initial value for these values.

A system and method for performing a wet etching process is disclosed. The system includes multiple processing stations accessible by a transfer device, including a measuring station to optically measure the thickness of a substrate, a controller to calculate an etch recipe for the substrate, in real time, and cause a single wafer wet etching station to etch the substrate according to the recipe. In addition, the system can measure the after etch thickness and calculate etch recipes, in real time, as a function of the final measurements of a previous substrate. The system can also include an in situ end point detection device for detecting the TSV reveal point while etching TSVs substrates. The system provides an automated solution to adjust etch recipe parameters in real time according to feedback concerning previously etched wafers and precisely control the TSV reveal height and etch duration using end point detection.

A method of determining a parameter of interest during processing of a patterned substrate includes obtaining a measured net reflectance spectrum resulting from illuminating at least a portion of the patterned substrate with a light beam having a broadband spectrum, calculating a modeled net reflectance spectrum as a weighted incoherent sum of reflectances from different regions constituting the portion of the patterned substrate, and determining a set of parameters that provides a close match between the measured net reflectance spectrum and the modeled net reflectance spectrum. For wavelengths below a selected transition wavelength, a first optical model is used to calculate the reflectance from each region as a weighted coherent sum of reflected fields from thin film stacks corresponding to laterally distinct areas constituting the region. For wavelengths above the transition wavelength, a second optical model based on effective medium approximation is used to calculate the reflectance from each region.

The invention relates to an automatic rubber tapping machine for rubber tree rubber picking. The machine comprises a tapping frame and is characterized in that the tapping frame is formed by a support rod and a support arm. A cut depth location structure, a curved cutter moving structure, an automatic line feed location structure, an end point detection structure, a solar power structure and a control structure are arranged on the tapping frame. The end point detection structure is used for detecting the moving track of a cutter in the curved cutter moving structure, and the signal output end of the end point detection structure is connected with the signal input end of the control structure. The control output end of the control structure is connected with the control input ends of the cut depth location structure, the curved cutter moving structure and the automatic line feed location structure through driving mechanisms. The cut depth location structure is provided with a cutter tapping depth adjusting and locating mechanism. The curved cutter moving structure is provided with a mechanism capable of achieving arc movement, lateral movement and vertical movement simultaneously. Therefore, the automatic rubber tapping machine allowing cut depth location, end point detection limiting, automatic line feed location and the arc tapping track is formed. The automatic rubber tapping machine has the advantages of being capable of reducing labor quantity of rubber picking workers and lays a device foundation for large scale rubber automatic production and the like.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method is disclosed in which a torque-based end-point algorithm is used to determine when polishing should be stopped. The end-point algorithm is applicable to situations where a ceria (CeO2) based CMP slurry is used for further polishing, pre-patterned and pre-polished workpieces (e.g., semiconductor wafers) which have a high friction over-layer (e.g., HDP-oxide) and a comparatively, lower friction and underlying layer of sacrificial pads (e.g., silicon nitride pads). A mass production wise, reliable and consistent signature point in the friction versus time waveform of a torque-representing signal is found and used to trigger an empirically specified duration of overpolish. A database may be used to define the overpolish time as a function of one or more relevant parameters.

A voice endpoint detection method based on real-time decoding includes the following steps: inputting texts related to voice recognition, analyzing the texts, constructing a decoding network according to text analyzing results, inputting voice, extracting acoustic characteristics in the voice, decoding the acoustic characteristics based on the constructed decoding network to obtain a decoded voice unit sequence, conducting voice endpoint judgment on the decoded voice unit sequence to judge whether voice endpoints exist or not, dividing voice endpoints into voice starting points and voice ending points, feeding voice endpoint information to an external application system on yes judgment and continuing step2 on no judgment. The voice starting point judgment is selectable in the third step, and voice starting point is not judged if the external application system does not care about the voice starting point. The voice endpoint detection method resolves the problem that targeted detection cannot be conducted on voice cared by users due to the fact that real time performance of the traditional endpoint detection technology is not high under the condition that voice recognition texts are not determined.

An improved method of forming the buried plate regions in deep trench capacitors used in DRAM memory semiconductor circuits in which the polymer used in the deep trench is etched down to the desired depth in a reactive ion etch tool using an O2 / CF4 chemistry. Since optical / interferometric etch end-point detection system can be used to monitor the etch back step in its totality, the quantity of the polymer remaining in deep trenches can be very accurately controlled, which in turn will produce a well controlled buried plate region during the out-diffusion step of the arsenic dopant contained in the arsenic doped silicon glass layer.

There is provided a chemical mechanical polishing pad containing a polishing substrate having a polishing surface and a light-transmitting member fused to the polishing substrate. The sectional form of the light-transmitting member when it is cut with a plane parallel to the polishing surface is elliptic with a value obtained by dividing its long diameter by its short diameter of more than 1. The pad is capable of transmitting end-point detection light without reducing its polishing efficiency in polishing a semiconductor wafer.