US Patent Issued to Tokyo Electron on July 21 for "Apparatus and method for determining the surface profile of a semiconductor substrate using a laser scanning technique" (New York, Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,687,390, issued on July 21, was assigned to Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Tokyo).

"Apparatus and method for determining the surface profile of a semiconductor substrate using a laser scanning technique" was invented by Daniel J. Fulford (Albany, N.Y.), Mark I. Gardner (Austin, Texas) and H. Jim Fulford (Albany, N.Y.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods are provided herein for determining the planarity of a semiconductor substrate. The systems and methods described herein use a metrology tool that utilizes a non-contact, laser-scanning technique to determine the planarity a semiconductor substrate. The metrology tool disclosed herein...