The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 23, 2007
Filed:
Apr. 08, 2005
Vladimir V. Talanov, Ellicott City, MD (US);
Andrew R. Schwartz, Bethesda, MD (US);
Andre Scherz, Baltimore, MD (US);
Robert L. Moreland, Lothian, MD (US);
Vladimir V. Talanov, Ellicott City, MD (US);
Andrew R. Schwartz, Bethesda, MD (US);
Andre Scherz, Baltimore, MD (US);
Robert L. Moreland, Lothian, MD (US);
Solid State Measurements, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A measurement technique based on a microwave near-field scanning probe is developed for non-contact measurement of dielectric constant of low-k films. The technique is non-destructive, non-invasive and can be used on both porous and non-porous dielectrics. The technique is based on measurement of resonant frequency shift of the near-field microwave resonator for a plurality of calibration samples vs. distance between the probe tip and the sample to construct a calibration curve. Probe resonance frequency shift measured for the sample under study vs. tip-sample separation is fitted into the calibration curve to extract the dielectric constant of the sample under study. The calibration permits obtaining a linear calibration curve in order to simplify the extraction of the dielectric constant of the sample under study.