US 12,237,198 B2
Area camera substrate pre-aligner
Jason Paul Remillard, Groton, MA (US); Neil Casa, Wilmington, MA (US); and Stephen W. Into, Harvard, MA (US)
Assigned to Onto Innovation Inc., Wilmington, MA (US)
Filed by Onto Innovation Inc., Wilmington, MA (US)
Filed on Jun. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/840,154.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/325,924, filed on Mar. 31, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0317490 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. G03F 7/20 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); H01L 21/68 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/681 (2013.01) [G06T 7/0004 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20081 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20084 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30148 (2013.01)] 35 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus to detect and pre-align a fiducial located on a substrate to a predetermined location on a substrate holder, the apparatus comprising:
at least one camera to be positioned over the substrate when the substrate is located on the substrate holder, the at least one camera to capture a plurality of images of at least a top surface of the substrate, at least two of the plurality of images showing at least partially unique views of the substrate, the at least partially unique views of the substrate including views from at least partially different locations on the substrate; and
a hardware-based processor to determine a location of an edge of the substrate based on the plurality of captured images, the hardware-based processor further to determine a characteristic dimension of the substrate across the top surface, determine a location of the fiducial on the substrate, calculate at least an x-direction offset, a y-direction offset, and a theta-direction offset of the substrate from the predetermined location on the substrate holder, and determine a location of the fiducial based on the plurality of captured images.