In order to realize high accuracy and high speed for measuring the surface profile of soft thin film such as photo resist materials for semiconductor process, we proposed the method of using a multi-ball-cantilever AFM, which has more than one cantilever for wide area and high speed in measurement and each cantilever has the ball stylus with diameter to avoid the plastic deformation of measured surfaces. Therefore, in this research, we investigated the profiles of resist material and influence of the AFM stylus on the resist surface. Then, to verify the feasibility of this method, we performed the computer simulation that reflects the relationship between the shape, size and load of the indenter and the deformation of resist surface with FEM (Finite Element Method), and discussed the influence from the force-displacement curve. The fundamental experiments were carried out using the multi-ball-cantilever AFM and we confirmed the feasibility for measuring the surface of soft thin film with high speed.

Date Published: 6 December 2005
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6049, Optomechatronic Sensors and Instrumentation, 604903 (6 December 2005); doi: 10.1117/12.647962

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6049:
Optomechatronic Sensors and Instrumentation
Yasuhiro Takaya, Editor(s)