Tencor profilometer
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Essentials | |
---|---|
Full name | KLA Tencor D-120 |
Manufacturer | KLA-Tencor Corp. |
Description | Profilometer |
Location | Cleanroom 2 (03.2.203B) |
Responsibility | |
Primary | Nader |
Secondary | Claus |
The KLA-Tencor profilometer (profiler) is a sample surface height and roughness characterization tool. A stylus tip is pressed to the surface with a small force (0.1-10 mg) and dragged across the sample surface.
Most users at NBI use it to measure:
Other alternatives to measure film thickness at the NBI cleanroom facilities:
- Bruker Dimension Icon AFM
- Alpha-SE ellipsometer for transparent films
- Filmetrics reflectometer for transparent films
- in some cases, JEOL 7800F SEM
Quick-start guide
Video on how to operate the Tencor profilometer:
Click here to watch the video on YouTube
Load your sample
- Open lid
- Place your sample in stage center
- The stylus scans only along the axis from the center of the room towards the wall behind the tool
- Align the step feature perpendicular to the scan axis
- In the software, drive stylus up to a safe height (a couple of mm above the substrate) using Z Stage arrows on the right side of the window
- Click Load Positions
- Center: Go To
- Stage moves in and centers under the stylus
- Close lid
- Ok
Find the step to scan
- Bring down the stylus using Z Stage at medium speed (~50%)
- You should start seeing the reflection of the stylus on your sample
- Reduce speed (~25%) before moving closer
- Drive to area of interest using arrows in X-Y Stages
Perform the scan
- When at the desired scan start position, click Engage
- In the Scan Parameters panel at the bottom of the screen set Speed, Length, and Profile according to your needs
- Set Range according to your expected step height
- Set Stylus Force
- 1.0 mg is a good starting point
- If the stylus doesn't move during the scan, try less force
- In the toolbar of the Video Capture window, click ▶ Scan
Process the scan data
- Drag the cursors R (reference) and M (measurement) to different positions at the same height on the substrate
- Expand the cursor widths as much as possible
- Click Level Data in the right of the screen
- Drag one cursor to the step and adjust the width
- Keep the other cursor at the reference level
- Read the step height at Delta Height
Unload your sample
- Close all data windows
- Increase Z Stage speed
- Drive the stylus pup to a safe gheight
- Click Load Positions
- Unload all the way out: Go To
- Wait for stage to drive out
- Unload sample
- Ok
- Done!
Troubleshooting
- If your sample is too tilted (the data hits the range limits)
-
- Drive stylus away from surface using Z Stage
- Turn the angle adjustment wheel counter-clockwise to level a negative slope, or clockwise to level a positive slope
- Perform a scan to test the tilt correction and readjust if necessary
- Tilt is correctly adjusted if you can level the entire scan