SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY FOR ADVANCED DEVICE PROCESSING

SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPES HAVE BECOME COMMON INSTRUMENTS FOR THE IMAGING OF SURFACE FEATURES WITH VERY HIGH RESOLUTION. THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPES INCLUDE THE CAPABILITY TO POSITION A VERY SHARP PROBE WITH ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION IN THREE DIMENSIONS. THIS CAPABILITY HAS STIMULATED INTEREST IN EXTENDING SCANNING PROBE TECHNOLOGY TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF VERY SMALL STRUCTURES. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO FURTHER DEVELOP EXISTING TECHNIQUES TO USE A SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE (STM) TO MARK OR SCRIBE A SURFACE, SPECIFICALLY AS APPLIED TO THE LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES. AS THE MANUFACTURER OF THE LEADING COMMERCIAL SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE, THE NANOSCOPE, DIGITAL INSTRUMENTS HAS NATURALLY ALREADY HAD CONSIDERABLE INVOLVEMENT WITH STM LITHOGRAPHY. OUR CUSTOMERS INCLUDE HUNDREDS OF ACADEMIC,INDUSTRIAL, AND GOVERNMENT RESEARCHERS, MANY OF WHOM ARE INTERESTED IN USING THEIR INSTRUMENTS TO SCRIBE SURFACES. BECAUSE OF THE INTEREST, SOME LITHOGRAPHY CAPABILITY HAS ALREADY BEEN DEVELOPED AND PROVIDED TO OUR USERS. FROM THE EXPERIENCE THAT HAS BEEN GAINED WITH THE LITHOGRAPHY FUNCTIONS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO NANOSCOPE USERS, WE ARE IN AN EXCELLENT POSITION TO EVALUATE WHICH TECHNIQUES ARE SUCCESSFUL AND WHICH AREAS NEED FURTHER WORK. IN THIS PROJECT WE WILL USE THIS EXPERIENCE TO DEFINE THE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A SYSTEM TO CREATE PATTERNS IN SILICON IN THE 100 NANOMETER AND SMALLER SIZE RANGE, AND TO DEVELOP A SYSTEM DESIGN FOR SUCH A SYSTEM.