| ABSTRACT: | NANOSCOPIC EVALUATION OF MICRO-SYSTEMS
L. J.Balk
University Of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
Due to their complex tasks micro-systems are affected in their performance by the local variation of material
parameters like mechanical, thermal, optical, electronic and electrical properties. As the active areas of
micro-systems are not only in the micrometer regime, but in the submicron or nanometer range, evaluation
of these features has to be carried out with according spatial resolution. Typical candidates for this are
various derivatives of scanning probe microscopes like scanning force, near field optical, or thermal
microscopes, allowing quantitative analyses with a resolution of ,say, a few to a few tens of nanometers.
However, to allow non-destructive testing precautions have to be undertaken to get to the location of
interest. One possibility is implementing a scanning probe microscope into a scanning electron microscope.
Thus not only routing to the location of interest is much easier, but more important is that electron beam and
probe tip can act alternatively as nanometer sized actuator and sensor to allow an optimum local testing.
Further, in spite of the dimensions of interest being small the area ? or volume ? to be analyzed may become
much larger, even up to millimeter. Then calibrated positioning of the testing probe in all dimensions is
essential for achieving quantitative information. This can be done by implementing a three-dimensional
holographic standard into a scanning force microscope system. The usefulness of such advanced techniques
is demonstrated by the evaluation of different micro-systems and will contain the determination of many of
the above mentioned material and device properties.
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