Patent ID: 7612890

Claim:
An apparatus for determining and implementing a control action associated with a temperature of a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor wafer associated with a manufacturing process, the apparatus comprising: a first coherent electromagnetic energy source, the first coherent electromagnetic energy source producing a generator beam of coherent electromagnetic energy, the generator beam of coherent electromagnetic energy impinging the semiconductor wafer and generating a sonic energy signal about the semiconductor wafer; a second coherent electromagnetic energy source, the second coherent electromagnetic energy source producing a measuring beam of coherent electromagnetic energy, the measuring beam of coherent electromagnetic energy impinging the semiconductor wafer, the measuring beam of coherent electromagnetic energy reflecting from the semiconductor wafer as a scattered electromagnetic energy, the scattered electromagnetic energy having a modulation associated with the sonic energy signal; an interferometer, the interferometer collecting part of the scattered electromagnetic energy and deriving a signal indicative of the sonic energy signal from the scattered electromagnetic energy; an analyzer, the analyzer determining a characteristic associated with the temperature of the semiconductor wafer from the signal indicative of the sonic energy signal; a modulator for manipulating the generation beam based on a sonic energy signal measurement; a modeler using input comprising process output data to model at least a part of the manufacturing process; and a controller, the controller determining a control action associated with the characteristic associated with the semiconductor wafer, the controller in interactive communication with the modeler.