Thin Film Measurement Solutions
We developed, in cooperation with leading manufacturers, a wide range of optical thin-film metrology instruments from high-precision sophisticated ellipsometry and reflectometry systems (spectroscopic, fast single wavelength and Imaging) for research and production applications to low-budget reflectometers for variety of applications.
Our TFCompanion data analysis software is the most sophisticated and user-friendly application that supports reflectance, transmittance, ellipsometry and imaging analysis.
The modular design of hardware and software enables to customize and configure each system to specific application requirements without additional cost, in most cases. Optical measurements are indirect. Selection of measurement methods, system configuration to meet measurement requirements are not trivial. We have extensive experience in using thin-film measurement technique and we do rigorous quantitative simulation of the system performance on specific application to reliably optimize configuration and system specification requirements.
System Description Characteristics PicoProbe series A family of BME (photoelastic modulator based) ellipsometer systems:
SWEXY - single wavelength ellipsometer;
SEXY - spectroscopic ellipsometer
Supports TIRE, SPR and RDS mode of operation
Unparalleled precision and fast measurement for in-situ and ex-situ applications.Full VASE capabilities.Up to 15 µm spot PicoScan series Imaging ellipsometer system That includes BAM, TIRE, SPR, RDS support Versatile research system with spatial resolution up to 1 µm. Production system for full 200mm wafer imaging (ultra- dense mapping)
TR-Probe series Spectroscopic reflectometry and/or transmittance in wide spectral range (VUV-NIR) High-precision systems (up to 0.01% precision). Custom made special orders and OEM M-Probe series Spectroscopic reflectometry and/or transmittance systems with fiber optics probe.
Spectral range: 200-1700 nm
Easy to use, precise, low-cost systems.
Desktop and in-situ measurement.
Wide thickness range (100A-100 µm)Ellipsometry has more powerful measurement capabilities as compared with Reflectometry or Transmittance:
- Simultaneous measurement of thickness and optical properties of the filmstack layers;
- Sub-Angstrom sensitivity to thickness variations
- Measurement of inhomogeneous layers
PicoProbe series ellipsometers offer unparalleled precision and reliability. In-situ and ex-situ, R&D lab and production environment systems are available.
One limitation of the conventional ellipsometry is that measurement is performed in one spot. Frequently, there is a need to "map" the surface of the sample. Low density mapping does not present a problem but in many cases of non-uniform samples a dense map is required. As a mapping density requirements increase it is becoming impractical to use conventional approach. Another limitation is a spatial resolution of the measurement.
These problems are resolved by use of Imaging Ellipsometry that enables simultaneous/parallel measurement of the surface area in ~2 million points with resolution up to diffraction limit (~1um). The size of the measured area depends on magnification/spatial resolution. One can measure full 200mm wafer in few seconds with ~ 200um resolution.
PicoScan series Imaging system takes Imaging ellipsometry on the new level - it is the first truly quantitative Imaging ellipsometry.
However, Imaging Ellipsometry has its tradeoffs as well: spectroscopic measurements can be taken only sequentially. It may be relatively slow for production environment.
Spectral Reflectometry/transmittance is a more simple, fast and low cost technique. It looks attractive for production-monitoring applications that require dense mapping of the wafers and fast throughput or in-situ deposition monitoring. Combining Reflectometry with Ellipsometry or Reflectometry with Transmittance (in case of transparent substrates) or both with Ellipsometry yield excellent result on many complex multilayer applications. Oblique incidence polarized reflectance is another approach that offer good tradeoff between measurement speed and performance.
TR-Probe series are custom made to most rigorous specification requirement with repeatability up to 0.01% and wide spectral range from 120nm-1700nm. TR-Probe systems are build on special requests and for OEM customers.
The majority of application require simple, precise and low-cost system that allows quick reflectance/transmittance measurement and analysis of the thin film structure.
M-Probe series is a real workhorse in the R&D lab and production environment. It is available in UV-IR range and can be used in in-situ, ex-situ configuration. It is small, affordable, easy to use and include everything for quick measurement and data analysis.