Applications of Optical Force Microscopy to MicroelectronicsTechnology

这一新颖研究快速奖的目标是开发一种计算机控制的光学测力显微镜，它将作为微电子设备的特征描述的诊断工具。最近开发的光学力显微镜使用了一个尖锐的尖端，它被扫描穿过表面，而由样品表面原子和尖端之间的范德华力所引起的偏转由第二个尖端来监测。该仪器对力场微小变化的敏感性源于隧道电流对这两个尖端之间的距离的指数依赖关系。PI和他的团队在发展光学力显微镜和将敏感的半导体半导体激光器作为测量设备方面取得了重大进展。他们提出的方法的新奇之处在于，它使用了一种非破坏性技术来探测存在于微电子设备表面的短暂边缘电场。通过使用反馈系统，它可以跟踪给定设备的地形，分辨率优于100 nm。这将使其能够在测试新的或故障的IC时执行几项重要任务，目前没有侵入性探测是不可能的。例如，它将能够测试埋在钝化层下的互连，并绘制双极晶体管和cmos晶体管附近的电场分布。该项目将开发一个计算机化系统，在高分辨率彩色监视器上显示正在调查的结构的建筑。

The objective of this Expedited Award for Novel Research is to develop a computer-controlled optical force microscope that will serve as a diagnostic tool for the characterization of microelectronic devices. The recently developed optical force microscope employs a sharp tip which is scanned across a surface, and its deflection caused by van der Waals forces acting between the surface atoms of the sample and the tip is monitored by a second tip. The sensitivity of this instrument to small variations in the force field drives from the exponential dependence of a tunneling current on the distance between these two tips. The PI and his group have made major advances in development of the optical forces microscope and in the incorporation of sensitive semiconductor diode lasers as the measurement devices. The novelty of their proposed approach is that it uses a nondestructive technique to probe the evanescent fringing electrical fields existing on the surface of a microelectronic device. By using a feedback system, it can follow the topography of a given device to a resolution better than 100 nm. This will enable it to perform several important tasks in testing a new or failed IC not currently possible without invasive probing. For example, it would enable testing of interconnects buried under a passivating layer, and mapping of the electric field distributions in the vicinity of bipolar and CMOS transistors. The project will develop a computerized system that will display the architecture of the structure under investigation on a high-resolution color monitor.