2011/02/01 by Sang‐Joon Cho, Byung-Woon Ahn, Joonhui Kim +4 · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · Engineering · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Integrated Circuits and Semiconductor Failure Analysis #Advanced Surface Polishing Techniques
paper · doi:10.1063/1.3553199
openalex publication_date 2011/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Sidewall surface roughness is an important parameter in electronic device manufacture. At present, no high resolution technique exists to quantitatively characterize this property for undercut structures created by semiconductor processing techniques. We developed a three-dimensional atomic force microscope (3D-AFM) to measure the surface roughness of undercut sidewalls with nanometer precision. Decoupled from the positional scanner, the 3D-AFM probe had a variable tilt up to 40° off the normal. Nonorthogonal scans resolved the sidewall surface roughness, base width, and acute critical angle for undercut structures, including a metal overhang and the transmission line of a photonic device. Compatible with standard cantilevers, the 3D-AFM demonstrates great potential for characterizing the sidewalls of soft materials such as photoresist.