ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,292,374, issued on May 6, was assigned to Camtek Ltd. (Migdal Ha'emek, Israel).
"Crystallographic defect inspection" was invented by Yuval Weissler (Kibutz Ha'Zorea, Israel) and Yossi Mangisto (Haifa, Israel).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wafer inspection system employing reflected bright-field microscopy can be adapted with polarizing optics and a mirror to detect polarization-altering defects (such as micropipes) in semiconductor wafers. The polarization-altering defects can be located within the bulk of the semiconductor wafer and can be imaged as bright features on a darker background. The system can also be used for conventional b...