System for Sensing a Sample
a sample and sensor technology, applied in the field of sample sensor systems, can solve the problems of damage to the sensing tip and process can be quite time-consuming, and achieve the effects of avoiding significant lateral forces, speeding up scanning process, and increasing measurement speed
Inactive Publication Date: 2006-09-21
KLA CORP
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AI Technical Summary
Benefits of technology
This method allows for accurate measurement of high aspect-ratio features without stylus breakage, improving the precision and reliability of surface profiling by minimizing lateral forces and ensuring complete feature measurement.
Problems solved by technology
If the separation between the tip and the sample during such lateral motion is less than the change in height of the sample surface, the lateral motion will cause the sensing tip to contact the sample surface laterally, thereby causing damage to the sensing tip.
The resulting process can be quite time consuming, especially if the sample surface is to be measured at many different locations.
Method used
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[0035]FIG. 1A is a simplified schematic view of a stylus sensor assembly similar to the one of U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,755 useful for illustrating this invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, stylus sensor assembly 10 includes a base portion which includes the support body 12 and a transducer support 14 rigidly attached together. The support body 12 has a pivot 16 therein equipped with a spring so that the pivot 16 is a flexure pivot. Connected rotatably to the flexure pivot 16 is one end of a stylus arm 18 having a sensing tip or stylus 20 at or near the other end of the stylus arm. The stylus arm 18 is connected to a vane 22 on the other side of the pivot 16. Therefore, when the stylus 20 contacts a surface and is caused to move up or down, causing the stylus arm 18 to also rotate, vane 22 will rotate as well, thereby causing a change in the capacitance between the two capacitor plates 24 which are supported by the transducer support 14. The change in capacitance is fed to a digital signal pr...
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Abstract
A profiler or scanning probe microscope may be scanned across a sample surface with a distance between them controlled to allow the sensing tip to contact the surface intermittently in order to find and measure features of interest. The distance is controlled so that when the sensing tip is raised or lowered to touch the sample surface, there is no lateral relative motion between the tip and the sample. This prevents tip damage. Prior knowledge of the height distribution of the sample surface may be provided or measured and used for positioning the sensing tip initially or in controlling the separation to avoid lateral contact between the tip and the sample. The process may also be performed in two parts: a fast find mode to find the features and a subsequent measurement mode to measure the features. A quick step mode may also be performed by choosing steps of lateral relative motion to be smaller than 100 nanometers to reduce probability of tip damage. In this mode, after each vertical step to increase the separation between the tip and the sample, it is detected as to whether the tip and the sample are in contact. If they are still in contact after the vertical step, one or more vertical steps are taken to increase the separation, and no vertical step to reduce the separation is taken and no lateral relative motion is caused until it is determined that the tip and the sample are no longer in contact.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 11 / 192,808, filed Jul. 28, 2005; which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 729,609, filed Dec. 5, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,917; which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 330,901, filed Dec. 26, 2002, now abandoned; which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 313,962, filed May 18, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,005; which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08 / 730,641, filed Oct. 11, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,972; which, in turn, is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08 / 598,848, filed Feb. 9, 1996, abandoned; which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08 / 362,818, filed Dec. 22, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,741. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Stylus profilers are used for obtaining surface profiles of samples. The stylus o...
Claims
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IPC IPC(8): G01B5/28G01B3/00G01B7/34G01Q70/08G01B21/20G01B21/30G01Q10/00G01Q10/02G01Q10/04G01Q10/06G01Q60/38G01Q70/00G01Q70/06G01Q70/12G01Q90/00
CPCB82Y35/00G01B3/008Y10S977/851G01Q10/06G01Q60/34G01B7/34
InventorMCWAID, THOMASPANAGAS, PETEREATON, STEVEN G.SAMSAVAR, AMINWHEELER, WILLIAM R.
OwnerKLA CORP