Specific Process Knowledge/Characterization/AFM: Atomic Force Microscopy/AFM Icon Acceptance

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AFM Icon 1 accessories and acceptance test

Accessories following the system

Equipment		AFM Icon	AFM Icon 2
Position		Inside the cleanroom	In the basement of building 346
Purpose	Topografic measurement in the nanometer and and sub-micrometer regime and electrical and mechanical measurements	Surface roughness measurement Step/structure hight measurement Surface image Surface potential Modulus Adhesion Deformation	Surface roughness measurement Step/structure hight measurement Surface image
Performance	Scan range xy	Up to 90 µm square	Up to 90 µm square
	Scan range z	Up to 13µm	Up to 13µm
	Vertical noise floor	<30pm RMS	<30pm RMS
	X-Y position noise (closed loop)	<0.15nm RMS	<0.15nm RMS
	Z sensor noise level(closed loop)	35pm RMS	35pm RMS
	Integral nonlinearity(X-Y-Z)	<0.5%	<0.5%
	X-Y position noise (closed loop)	<0.15nm RMS	<0.15nm RMS
	Max. scan depth as a function of trench width W	~1 for our standard probe. Can be improved to about 10 with the right probe	~1 for our standard probe. Can be improved to about 10 with the right probe
Hardware settings	Tip radius of curvature	Standard probe: <12 nm	Standard probe: <12 nm
	Standard ScanAsyst mode Cantilever/tip	ScanAsyst in Air	ScanAsyst in Air
	Standard Tapping mode Cantilevers/tips	Tap300Al-G	Tap300Al-G
	Super Sharp Si Cantilever/tip	SSS-NCHR
	High Aspect Ratio Cantilever/tip	AR5-NCHR	AR5-NCHR
	Cantilevers/tips vendor	Bruker www.nanoandmore.com	Bruker www.nanoandmore.com
Substrates	Substrate size	Up to 210mm in diameter and up to 15mm thick"	Up to 210mm in diameter and up to 15mm thick"
	Motorized stage (X-Y axis)	180mmx150mm inspection area 2µm repeatability, unidirectional 3µm repeatability, bidirectional	180mmx150mm inspection area 2µm repeatability, unidirectional 3µm repeatability, bidirectional
	Substrate material allowed	In principle all materials	In principle all materials

Extra chuck

We have two chucks:

• A symmetric chuck that handles up to 210mm wafers and 15mm thick

• An asymmetric chuck that handles up to ~4" wafer (but not small pieces) - using this a whole 4" can be accessed without rotating the sample.

Holders

• Magnetic sample holder + magnetic discs + double sided tape
• Holder for vertical profile scans

Modes included

• ScanAsyst
• TappingMode (air)
• Contact Mode
• Lateral Force Microscopy
• PhaseImaging
• Lift mode
• MFM
• Force Spectroscopy
• Force volume
• EFM
• surface potential
• Torsional Resonance Mode
• Piezoresponse Microscopy
• Force spectroscopy

Extra modes:

• PeakForce KPFM package (incl extra box for high voltage PF KPFM)
• PFQNM package
• Microscope Image Registration and Overlay (MIRO) software. this is only working in the old software (before version 9.4)

Probes

Probes that followed the system (we may not have them anymore!)

	ScanAsyst mode	Tapping mode	Contact mode	PF-KPFM
Generel description	Generel description	Generel description
Probes that followed the system	ScanAsyst air 30ps ScanAsyst fluid 10ps ScanAsyst fluid + 10ps	MPP-11100-10 MPP-21100-10 MPP-11120-10 RTESPA TESPA-V2 10ps OTESPA-R3 10ps High Aspect ratio probes 1:15: FIB6-400A 5ps MPP-12120 10ps. Tap150A MPP-13120-10 TAP525A	SNL-10 20ps	SCM-PIT 10ps PFQNE-Al 10ps

Samples

• QC grid: VGRP-15M 10µm pitch and depth reference 178nm
• PF KPFM-SMPL Kelvin probe Sample: Al + Au on Si

Calibration samples for getting quantitative modulus measurements:

1. PDMS-soft-1-12M: PDMS gel 2.5MPa
2. PDMS-soft-2-12M: PDMS gel 3.5MPa
3. PSFilm-12M: Polystyrene filem
4. FSilica-12M: Fused Silica
5. Sapphire-12M: Sapphire
6. RS-12M: Ti roughness sample
7. HOPG-12M: Highly Orientated Pyrolytic Graphite
8. PS-LDPE: Harmonix training

• HOPG: Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite

Acceptance tests done

Noise tests

Sensor noise

Tappingmode, OTESPA-R3 probe used.
First we made a false engage (scanning in air): Turn off gain 0 0
Z range 0.2my
Scan size 0.01nm
We saw some 50Hz noise (electrical - or maybe pumps): Rq 15 pm (specs 35pm)

System noise

Noise on sample: scan size 0.1nm
we started with 1my scan size to optimize the scan.
2.43Hz
256 lines
Z range at 2my to get sub nanometer resolution in Z
Rq: 54,5pm (plade vibrator koerte udenfor)
Rq: 23pm uden vibrator koerende + ro og med aaben hood.
Rq:71pm uden vibrator koerende + ro og med lukket hood

Roughness

HAR: 200nm wide 400nm deep

Graphene KPFM measurement

Height image: The graphene and structuring in graphene is not visible
Potential image: Potential difference between grapheme and non-graphene is visible
Phase: Phase imaging maps the phase lag between the periodic signal driving the cantilever and the oscillations of the cantilever. Changes in phase lag often indicate changes in the properties of the sample surface. Here the structuring in the graphene is very clear