International Business Machines Corporation

Herschel M Marchman

Hendrik F Hamann

Supratik Guha

Robert J Von Gutfeld

Chad Rue

Steven B Herschbein

Narender N Rana

Michael Ray Sievers

Michael Renner

Aaron D Shore

A method and apparatus for fabricating or altering a microstructure use means for heating to facilitate a local chemical reaction that forms or alters the submicrostructure.

Method and apparatus for fabricating or altering microstructures using local chemical alterations

An apparatus for simultaneous parallel processing of a sample using light energy for optical viewing or surface processing in parallel with a charged particle beam. A charged particle beam transmits a focused ion beam or an electron beam along a path to a sample. An optical microscope transmits light along a first path to the sample, and a prism aligned along the first light path reflects light into a second light path toward the sample. A portion of the prism and reflective surface is removed for passage of the charged particle beam. A lens is aligned along the second light path and has a portion removed for passage of the charged particle beam. The removed portions of the prism and lens are aligned along the charged particle beam path to permit parallel delivery of the charged particle beam and the light to substantially the same portion of the sample.

In-situ high-resolution light-optical channel for optical viewing and surface processing in parallel with charged particle (FIB and SEM) techniques

An optical-fiber based light channel system is included in an ion/electron beam tool for imaging and/or processing integrated circuits. The optical channel system includes an image collection portion, an optical fiber image transmission portion and a detector portion. The image collection portion includes micro-optical components and has submillimeter dimensions, so that it is easily accommodated within the working distance of the ion/electron beam tool. The entire system is sufficiently compact and lightweight so that it may easily be mounted on a translation stage inside the sample chamber, which permits the optical channel to be mechanically extended and retracted to avoid blocking the primary ion or electron beam. The system may be mounted to a translation stage or to a gas injector assembly, which may itself be mounted to a flange plate on the chamber wall with feed-through ports for electrical and optical signals.

High-resolution optical channel for non-destructive navigation and processing of integrated circuits

A method and structure for an apparatus for removing metal from an integrated circuit structure is disclosed. A container holds an integrated circuit structure that has a metal portion. An electronic device connected to the container produces an electronic field proximate to a limited region of the metal portion. A first supply connected to the container supplies an oxidizing agent within the container. A solvent supply connected to the container supplies solvent to the limited region of the metal portion.

Metal dry etch using electronic field

A method and apparatus for editing an integrated circuit by bombarding a feature in need of editing with either a low-energy or high-energy electron beam in the presence of a gas whereby low energy electrons activate reactants adsorbed on the surface of the feature in need of editing to form active species on the feature surface. The reaction products from the process can be easily removed whereby IC damage, leakage between metal features, wafer contamination and physical sputtering of undesired material can be significantly minimized while still possessing nanometer-scale spatial resolution. The low energy electrons for activating the reactants adsorbed on the surface of the feature to be edited may be emitted from the electron beam itself or they may be secondary low energy is electrons emitted from the surface of the feature being edited.

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Poughquag, NY, United States of America

Herschel M Marchman