Abstract:
Systems and methods for performing inspection and metrology operations on metallization processes such as on back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallization thickness and step coverage are disclosed. Specific examples include measurements of thickness and uniformity of barrier layers, including tantalum for example, and seed layers, including copper for example, in Damascene, including dual-Damascene, trenches during the interconnect fabrication steps of integrated circuit production. The invention also relates to the detection and measurement of void formation during and after copper electroplating. The invention utilizes x-ray fluorescence to measure the absolute thicknesses and the thickness uniformity of the barrier layers in the trenches, the copper seed layers for electroplating, and the final copper interconnects.
Abstract:
An achromatic Fresnel optic that combines a Fresnel zone plate and a refractive Fresnel lens. The zone plate provides high resolution for imaging and focusing, while the refractive lens takes advantage of the refraction index change properties of appropriate elements near absorption edges to recombine the electromagnetic radiation of different energies dispersed by the zone plate. This compound lens effectively solves the high chromatic aberration problem of zone plates. The AFO has a wide range of potential applications in lithography, microimaging with various contrast mechanisms and measurement techniques.
Abstract:
A mask blank inspection tool includes an AFO having a diffractive lens and a refractive lens formed on a common substrate. The diffractive lens is a Fresnel zone plate and the refractive lens is a refractive Fresnel lens. The AFO is used to image light from a defect particle on a multilayer mask blank or the surface of the multilayer mask blank to a detector.
Abstract:
The present invention is a sealed electroluminescent display that incorporates a perimeter seal that inhibits exposure of display components to atmospheric contaminants and to a sealing process for fabrication of the same. The sealed electroluminescent display comprises a substrate, a cover plate and an electroluminescent display structure between the substrate and the cover plate. A perimeter seal is provided that extends from the substrate to the cover plate to inhibit exposure of the electroluminescent display structure to an atmospheric contaminant. The perimeter seal comprises one or more layers of a sealing material wherein at least one of the layers further comprises a getter material.
Abstract:
An optical reader apparatus is configured to detect epidermal ridges of a body part using specular reflection contrast detection. The optical reader apparatus comprises a display comprising a transparent cover and a substrate comprising an array of active pixels. The active pixels serve as an illuminator of the optical reader apparatus. The apparatus also comprises a pinhole array and an optical sensor optically coupled to the display via the pinhole array. The optical sensor comprises an array of photosensors arranged on a substrate. The array of photosensors is configured to detect light reflected via specular reflection by the transparent cover. A processor, coupled to the display and the optical sensor, is configured to control reading of signals from the photosensors and to control illumination of selected active pixels in accordance with a predefined scanning pattern that covers a sensing region of the transparent cover during a body part reading operation.
Abstract:
In example implementations, a method for producing a thin film coating is provided. The method includes pre-treating a substrate, placing the substrate in a bath comprising at least phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid to produce a thin anodized layer, rinsing the thin anodized layer in a solution, plating a surface of the thin anodized layer in an electro deposition bath following a plating current profile for a predetermined period, and increasing the plating current to the recommended bath plating current to produce the thin film coating having a desired initial coating thickness.
Abstract:
The disclosure discloses a multi-antenna signal processing method in an uplink system. The method includes that: after scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, pre-coding, transmission pre-coding, resource mapping and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal generation are performed successively on a coded bit sequence corresponding to each codeword, a resulted signal is transmitted from each transmitting antenna port. The disclosure also provides a multi-antenna signal processing device in an uplink system. With the method and the device according to the disclosure, a lower Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) or Cubic Metric (CM) of a signal to be sent can be ensured without imposing any constraint on a pre-coding matrix, thus reducing the cost and power consumption of a terminal whiling increasing transmission performance of the system.
Abstract:
The present invention discloses a method for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal. The method includes: a base station notifying a user equipment to aperiodically send the sounding reference signal, and sending configuration information of aperiodically sending the sounding reference signal (SRS) down to the user equipment. The present invention also discloses a base station for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal and a user equipment for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal. The present invention can realize that the user equipment aperiodically sends the SRS, which improves the utilization ratio of SRS resources and increases the flexibility of resource scheduling.
Abstract:
The present invention pertains to a voltage reference circuit based on temperature compensation, comprising positive and negative temperature coefficient generating units, temperature compensation circuit, image circuit and voltage divider. In this circuit, Item T is compensated with Item T, and Item T ln(T) is compensated by Item T in (T), which features a well-targeted compensation performance. The circuit outputs a reference voltage with zero temperature coefficient, which is independent to T and T ln (T). The output voltage value could be defined by adjusting the ratio of resistance in voltage divider. The invention provides a voltage reference circuit featuring good compensation, zero temperature coefficient and adjustable output voltage. The invention has a better compensation than the conventional one and a fixed output voltage, and it totally eliminates the temperature coefficient. The invention has wide application in analog IC and digital/analog mixed IC.
Abstract:
A charge pump circuit for generating an output voltage is described. Charge pump circuits typically have two branches. As the clocks supplying the branches of a charge pump circuit alternate, the output of each branch will alternately provide an output voltage, which are then combined to form the pump output. The techniques described here allow charge to be transferred between the two branches, so that as the capacitor of one branch discharges, it is used to charge up the capacitor in the other branch. An exemplary embodiment using a voltage doubler-type of circuit, with the charge transfer between the branches accomplished using a switch controller by a boosted version of the clock signal, which is provided by a one-sided voltage doubler