Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Intel Corporation

Active Impulse Systems, Inc.

Timothy F Crimmins

Keith Adam Nelson

Oleg Golonzka

Swaminathan Sivakumar

John A Rogers

Martin Fuchs

Matthew J Banet

Alexei Maznev

Alexi A Maznev

Defective contact plug fills can be detected by applying an etching solution, which in some embodiments preferentially etches in the &#x3c;111&#x3e; direction. The etching solution is some embodiments may also produce a characteristic type of undercutting underneath the contact plug fill. Contact plug fills with defects in them have undercutting underneath as a result of the etchant exposure, while defective contact plug fills have no such undercutting. The contact plug fills that are now undercut by etching exposure are unable to dissipate surface charge or surface applied potential and can be detected using voltage contrast methods or conventional electrical testing techniques, for example.

Method of evaluating the quality of a contact plug fill

A spectroscopic method for characterizing a sample including: positioning the sample adjacent to a non-centrosymmetric material; directing at least one temporal pulse of coherent EM radiation into the non-centrosymmetric material to generate a polariton therein and cause EM radiation from the polariton to propagate into the sample, wherein the polariton has a frequency less than or equal to the bandwidth of the pulse; and measuring a response of the sample to the EM radiation from the polariton.

System and Method for terahertz frequency measurements

The invention features methods and systems for optical correlation of ultrashort optical waveforms, e.g., pulses. The optical waveform passes through a diffractive optic, e.g., a mask or grating, to generate multiple sub-beams corresponding to different diffractive orders. At least two of the sub-beams are then imaged onto the sample to produce a desired crossing pattern. To perform the correlation, the diffracted sub-beams are variably delayed relative to one another prior to overlapping on the sample. The sample generates a signal beam in response to the overlapping sub-beams, the signal beam providing a correlation between the sub-beams for each of the variable delays.

Methods and system for optically correlating ultrashort optical waveforms

An apparatus for measuring a property of a structure comprising at least one layer, the appratus including a light source that produces an optical pulse having a duration of less than 10 ps; a diffractive element that receives the optical pulse and diffracts it to generate at least two excitation pulses; an optical system that spatially and temporally overlaps at least two excitation pulses on or in the structure to form an excitation pattern, containing at least two light regions, that launches an acoustic wave having an out-of-plane component that propagates through the layer, reflects off a lower boundary of the layer, and returns to a surface of the structure to modulate a property of the structure; a light source that produces a probe pulse that diffracts off the modulated property to generate at least one signal pulse; a detector that receives at least one signal pulse and in response generates a light-induced electrical signal; and an analyzer that analyzes the light-induced electrical signal to measure the property of the structure.

Method and device for simultaneously measuring the thickness of multiple

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Timothy F Crimmins