Improving the Consistency of Nanoscale Etching for Atomic Force Microscopy Tomography Applications
Improving the Consistency of Nanoscale Etching for Atomic Force Microscopy Tomography Applications
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DOI：
10.3389/fmats.2019.00203
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发表时间：
2019-08
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
M. Buckwell;W. H. Ng;S. Hudziak;A. Mehonic;M. Lanza;A. Kenyon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Buckwell;W. H. Ng;S. Hudziak;A. Mehonic;M. Lanza;A. Kenyon
原子力显微镜使人们能够研究纳米级的结构和功能材料的性质。最近，随着电导层析成像技术的问世，应用范围得到了扩大。电导层析成像技术是一种通过扫描探头逐渐去除样品材料来绘制电子设备中三维电流的技术。这项技术在研究电阻开关存储器和太阳能电池方面很有价值，尽管由于缺乏对其可靠性和实用性的了解，它的更广泛使用受到了阻碍。由于难以确定针尖-样品相互作用的特征和说明探针降解的原因，实施可能是不可能的，而这两个因素都是工艺效率的关键因素。这项工作遵循现有的电导断层扫描文献，提出了材料去除过程的重复性和可靠性的见解。研究了硬氧化物和软金属上工艺的一致性，以了解可能影响异质结构层析测量的刻蚀行为的关键差异。单个探头的行为在磨损阶段后稳定下来，并且探头之间的刻蚀过程是一致的，特别是在氧化物上。然而，工艺不一致性随着施加在金属上的力的增加而增加。因此，研究了扫描角度、针尖速度和反馈增益的影响，并发现它们的调节可以改善材料去除的空间一致性。有了这些发现，我们的目标是提出一个关键的研究，以实现断层扫描与原子力显微镜，以促进其方法学的发展。
The atomic force microscope empowers research into nanoscale structural and functional material properties. Recently, the scope of application has broadened with the arrival of conductance tomography, a technique for mapping current in three-dimensions in electronic devices by gradually removing sample material with the scanning probe. This technique has been valuable in studying resistance switching memories and solar cells, although its broader use has been hindered by a lack of understanding of its reliability and practicality. Implementation can be preclusive, owing to difficulties in characterizing tip-sample interactions and accounting for probe degradation, both of which are crucial factors in process efficacy. This work follows the existing conductance tomography literature, presenting an insight into the repeatability and reliability of the material removal processes. The consistency of processes on a hard oxide and a softer metal are investigated, to understand the critical differences in etching behavior that might affect tomography measurements on heterostructures. Individual probe behavior stabilizes following a wearing-in stage and etching processes are consistent between probes, in particular on oxide. However, process inconsistency increases with applied force on metal. The effects of scan angle, tip speed and feedback gain are therefore explored and their tuning found to improve the spatial consistency of material removal. With these findings, we aim to present a critical study of the implementation of tomography with the atomic force microscope in order to contribute to its methodological development.