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United States Patent 5,808,272
Sun, et. al. Sept. 15, 1998

Laser system for functional trimming of films and devices

Abstract

A laser system (50) and processing method exploit a wavelength range (40) in which devices, including any semiconductor material-based devices (10) affected by conventional laser wavelengths and devices having light-sensitive or photo-electronic portions integrated into their circuits, can be effectively functionally trimmed without inducing performance drift or malfunctions in the processed devices. True measurement values of operational parameters of the devices can, therefore, be obtained without delay for device recovery, i.e., can be obtained substantially instantaneously with laser impingement. Accordingly, the present invention allows faster functional laser processing, eases geometric restrictions on circuit design, and facilitates production of denser and smaller devices.


Inventors: Sun; Yunlong (Portland, OR); Swenson; Edward J. (Portland, OR).
Assignee: Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (Portland, OR).
Appl. No.: 959,140
Filed: Oct. 28, 1997

Related U.S. Application Data
Continuation of (including streamline cont.) Ser. No. 538,073, Oct. 2, 1995, Pat. No. 5,685,995, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 343,779, Nov. 22, 1994, Pat. No. 5,569,398.
Intl. Cl. : B23K 26/00
Current U.S. Cl.: 219/121.68; 438/799
Field of Search: 219/121.68, 121.69, 121.83; 438/462, 463, 662, 799, 940

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Primary Examiner: Evans; Geoffrey S.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Stoel Rives LLP
12 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures

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