International Business Machines Corporation

Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Applied Materials Israel Limited

Thomas Bayer

Johann Greschner

Johann W Bartha

Helga Weiss

Olaf Wolter

Georg Kraus

Klaus Meissner

Martin Nonnenmacher, Deceased

Yves Corfield Martin

Gerhard E Schmid

Roland R Stoehr

Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe

Dieter P Kern

Ulrich Kuenzel

Samuel Kalt

Roland R Stohr

Jurgen Wittlinger

Volker Mattern

Rolf Schaefer

Rainer K Knippelmeyer

Thomas Kemen

Hans C Pfeiffer

Holger Hinkel

Antonio Casares

Werner Steiner

Martin Nonnenmacher

Michael Elsasser

Bernd Marquart

Rolf Schafer

Heinrich Schmid

Willy Hildenbrand

Volker Wolf

Georg Fritz

Kurt Kleischmann

Gisela Renz

The present invention relates to a particle-optical component comprising a first multi-aperture plate, and a second multi-aperture plate forming a gap between them; wherein a plurality of apertures of the first multi-aperture plate is arranged such that each aperture of the plurality of apertures of the first multi-aperture plate is aligned with a corresponding aperture of a plurality of apertures of the second multi-aperture plate; and wherein the gap has a first width at a first location and a second width at a second location and wherein the second width is by at least 5% greater than the first width. In addition, the present invention pertains to charged particle systems and arrangements comprising such components and methods of manufacturing multi aperture plates having a curved surface.

Charged particle-optical systems, methods and components

The invention relates to a contact probe arrangement for electrically connecting a test system with contact pads of a device to be tested. The contact probes are located in guide grooves. The guide grooves as well as areas are provided in a plane parallel to the surface of a guide plate and are covered by a protective plate. The contact probes may bend out laterally into the respective areas. This assures a very dense contact probe array. Contact probe arrays of this type may be used, for example, for detecting opens and shorts in integrated circuits or semiconductor chips. The invention overcomes the problem of adjusting for height differences in the contact pads caused by an uneven surface of the device to be tested.

Contact probe arrangement

A calibration standard comprises a supporting structure (,) of single crystal material with at least one pair of different kinds of structures consisting of a raised line (,) and a trench (,). These structures have the identical width in the range of about 500 nm. The single crystal material preferably is silicon with (110)-orientation. A method of producing the calibration standard comprises the steps: providing two polished wafers of the same single crystal material and with the same crystal orientation, forming an oxide layer on the polished surface of the first wafer, bonding the second wafer to the first oxidized wafer with the polished surfaces of the wafers facing each other, cutting the bonded structure transverse to the polished surfaces, selectively etching both the wafers to a defined depth to expose a portion of the oxide layer, masking the portions of the oxide layer now representing the raised line (,) and selectively etching the oxide layer in the unmasked areas to a defined depth to form the trench (,). The calibration standard overcomes the problem of measuring the diameter of an ultrafine tip for AFM/STM profilometry in the sub-nanometer range.

Method of producing a calibration standard for 2-D and 3-D profilometry in the sub-nanometer range

The invention pertains to a micromechanical sensor for AFM/STM profilometry which consists of a beam with a point for interaction with a test surface to be sampled on one end and a fixing block on the other end. The point consists of a basically conical shank with a countersunk point at the end of the shank. The micromechanical sensor has excellent mechanical rigidity and is particularly suited to the measurement of extremely deep and narrow structures with positive side flank angles.

Micromechanical sensor for AFM/STM profilometry

A micromechanically fabricated read/write head for charge storage devices comprising a supporting base, a cantilever and a tip with a shaft and frontside end. The supporting base, cantilever and tip form one integral part made of electrically conducting material. The frontside end of the tip is so designed as to allow writing and reading of information in direct contact with the surface of a charge storage device. The shaft of the tip has a small diameter and is surrounded by a strengthening shell.

Micro-mechanically fabricated read/write head with a strengthening shell

The invention relates to calibration standards which are used chiefly for the calibration of profilometers and in atomic force- and scanning probe microscopes. The calibration standard has one step of defined height H or a multi-step system formed of several steps of the same step-height H and consisting of exactly one material. The manufacturing procedure for the calibration standard requires only a single masking layer for each of the different versions in the form of a one-step standard or a multi-step system.

Calibration standard for profilometers and manufacturing procedure

A calibration standard comprises a supporting structure (1) of single crystal material with at least one pair of different kinds of structures consisting of a raised line (2) and a trench (3). These structures have the identical width in the range of about 500 nm. The single crystal material preferably is silicon with (110)-orientation. A method of producing the calibration standard comprises the steps: providing two polished wafers of the same single crystal material and with the same crystal orientation, forming an oxide layer on the polished surface of the first wafer, bonding the second wafer to the first oxidized wafer with the polished surfaces of the wafers facing each other, cutting the bonded structure transverse to the polished surfaces, selectively etching both the wafers to a defined depth to expose a portion of the oxide layer, masking the portions of the oxide layer now representing the raised line (2) and selectively etching the oxide layer in the unmasked areas to a defined depth to form the trench (3). The calibration standard overcomes the problem of measuring the diameter of an ultrafine tip for AFM/STM profilometry in the sub-nanometer range.

Calibration standard for 2-D and 3-D profilometry in the sub-nanometer

The invention relates to a manufacturing method for a membrane mask suitable for particle beams with mask fields, which are bounded by thin support walls. The deep plasma etching for the formation of the support walls is halted shortly before reaching the membrane and the last .mu.m before the membrane removed by wet-chemical etching. A high etch selectivity can be achieved using an alkaline etching solution. The support walls 1 are turned by 45.degree. to the (110) direction or oriented parallel to the (100) plane, so that the structures restricted by (111) planes are avoided.

Manufacturing method for membrane lithography mask with mask fields

Process for the creation of a thermal SiO.sub.2 layer with extremely

Resonant sensor for determining multiple physical values

A method for measuring the width of a tip in an Atomic Force Microscope/Scanning Tunneling Microscope using a calibration standard is provided. The method incorporates the steps of providing a tip, measuring the width b1 of a first kind of structure, and measuring the width b2 of a second kind of structure. The steps of measuring comprise the steps of profiling the first and second kinds of structures with a tip and calculating the width of the tip as a function of the measured widths b1 and b2. The calibration standard comprises the first and second kinds of structures and may be, for example, a trench and a raised line which have substantially the same width.

A sensor (100) is set forth with which a microscope based on atomic forces is constructed and which represents the forces in up to three components. The sensor (100) is designed such that different vibration modes (transversal and torsional) can be induced individually and each mode corresponds to one force direction.

Force microscope and method for measuring atomic forces in multiple

Adjacent shaped grooves are placed in single crystal structure with great accuracy and known dimensions by a combination of anisotropic and isotropic etching to produce a scanning probe microscope calibration standard with fine V-shaped grooves forming a prismatically shaped ridge or blade between them. A probe microscope to be calibrated is used to profile the tip of the ridge in a number of places along the length of the ridge. With knowledge of the sidewall angles and tip radius of the calibration standard both the flat tip dimensions of a probe with a flared tip and the tip radius of a probe with a conical tip can be calculated from the profile they produce.

Calibration standards for profilometers and methods of producing them

A method for producing micromechanical sensors for the AFM/STM/MFM profilometry is described in which a multiple step mask of cantilever beam and tip is transferred step by step into the wafer substrate by reactive ion etching. A particular highly anisotropic etching step is used for etching and shaping of the tip. This process step uses an Ar/Cl2 ambient at a pressure of about 100 .sup.6 bar and a self bias voltage of about 300 V DC. The ratio of pressure to self bias voltage determines the concave shape of the tip side- walls. This etching step is followed by a thermal oxidation step. The oxidation is carried out for a time until the oxidation fronts at the thinnest point of the tip shaft touch each other. A stripping process with buffered hydrofluoric acid gently removes the thermally grown oxide. The oxidation process allows--via oxidation time--a modification of tip height and angle in an extremely controllable manner. To prevent sticking of the tip to the structure to be profiled the ratio of tip diameter to tip height should be about 1:10. Should this ratio be exceeded the tip has to be arranged on a pedestal. The structure, comprising a cantilever beam and a tip on pedestal, can be produced with the same but slightly modified process of the invention.

Micromechanical sensor and sensor fabrication process

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Sindelfingen, Germany

Thomas Bayer