Specific Process Knowledge/Characterization/Profiler

Dektak 8 stylus profiler

Dektak8: positioned in cleanroom 4 - glass cage no. 3

Dektak 8 stylus profiler is a product of Veeco Instruments. It is usable for profiling surfaces of samples with structures in the micrometer range. It can measure in a specific point found with help from high magnification video cameras or it can be programmed to measure several points defined with respect to some deskew points. It can also be used for stress measurements of thin films by measuring the wafer bow.

To get some product information and some tips and tricks from the vendor take a look at Veeco's homepage [1]

A rough overview of the performance of Dektak 8 stylus profiler

Purpose	Profiler for measuring micro structures.	Single point profiles Wafer mapping Stress measurements by measuring wafer bow Surface roughness on a line scan
Performance	Scan range xy	Line scan x: 50 µm to 100 mm
	Scan range z	50 Å to 1 mm
	Resolution xy	down to 0.067 µm
	Resolution z	1Å, 10Å, 40Å or 160Å (for ranges 65kÅ, 655 kÅ, 2620 kÅ and 1mm respectively)
	Max. scan depth as a function of trench width W	1.2(W[µm]-5µm)
Hardware settings	Tip radius	5 µm 45^o cone
Substrates	Substrate size	up to 8"
	Substrate material allowed	In principle all materials

Optical Profiler (Sensofar)

PLu Neox 3D Optical Profiler (from Sensofar)has a dual-technology sensor head that combines confocal and interferometry techniques as well as thick and thin film measurement capabilities.

The neox sensor head provides standard microscope imaging, confocal imaging, confocal profiling, PSI (Phase Shift Interferometry), VSI (Vertical Scanning Interferometry) and high resolution thin film thickness measurement on a single instrument.

The main purpose is 3D topographic imaging of surfaces, Step height measurements in smaller trenches/holes than can be obtained with standard stylus method, roughness measurements with larger FOV than the AFM, but less horisontal resolution.

A rough overview of the performance of the Optical Profiler (Sensofar)

Purpose	3D topographic imaging of surfaces.	3D imaging of surface Roughness measurements Step height measurement 3D topographic measurements Thin film thickness measurement in small spots (down to 4µm)
Posibilities	Confocal and interferometric profiling and reflectometry	standard microscope imaging confocal imaging confocal profiling PSI (Phase Shift Interferometry) VSI (Vertical Scanning Interferometry) high resolution thin film thickness measurement using reflectrometry wafer mapping
Performance	Depending on the objective chosen	see here the performance of the different objectives:
Substrates	Substrate size	up to more than 6"
	Substrate material allowed	In principle all materials

Comparing the profilers

Take a look at the topographic measurement page.