Development of a Picosecond Time Resolution Scanning Force Microscope

We propose to fabricate and characterize a new, freely-positionable voltage probe that has 2-ps temporal resolution and 200-nm spatial resolution. This probe will retrofit into a conventional scanning force microscope (SFM) environment. It will operate in imaging mode with the same functionality offered by other SFM probes. This same probe can be positioned with sub-micron accuracy and make ultrahigh-sensitivity, absolute-voltage measurement with 2-ps resolution. The ultimate sensitivity of this probe is 10 nV/+Hz, which is 10 5-10 6 times greater than existing probes. Low-voltage measurements of nanoelectronic devices can now be observed, often in real time. These same measurements would take tens of minutes to acquire with other techniques. Also,, we can now test for picosecond timing-jitter in sub-micron VLSI with acquisition times measured in minutes instead of hours. The photoconductive nature of this probe enables this probe to also be used for injecting electrical pulses into a device with this same temporal and spatial resolution. The combination of ultrafine resolution, speed, and sensitivity makes this probe a new and power diagnostic tool for measurement of transient events, in both research and manufacturing. We will work closely with the University of Michigan, to design, and test these probes.