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P-17 Profilometer

P-17 Profilometer

 

Refer to the Material and Process Compatibility page for information on materials compatible with this tool.
Equipment Status: Set as UP, PROBLEM, or DOWN, and report the issue date (MM/DD) and a brief description. Italicized fields will be filled in by BNC Staff in response to issues. See Problem Reporting Guide for more info.

 

Status

UP

Issue Date and Description

 

Estimated Fix Date and Comment

 

Responding Staff

 

 

P-17 Profilometer - Internal Resources

 

iLab Name: P-17 Profilometer
iLab Kiosk: BRK Metrology Core
Owner: Rich Harlan
Location: Cleanroom:  Q-Bay
Maximum Wafer Size: 200 mm

 

Overview

General Description

The KLA P-17 Profiler measures step height, waviness and roughness of a surface.  It can accommodates up to 200mm (8") substrates, and measures vertical features ranging from the nanoscale to approximately 360 um.  Small samples may need to be adhered to a carrier wafer for measurement.

 

Standard Operating Procedure

  1. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

    1. Safety glasses must be worn whenever in the cleanroom, except when using a microscope or when wearing protective goggles.

    2. Information regarding the hazardous materials used in the cleanroom may be found through MSDS documentation located in the gowning room.

    3. Operate the P17 Stylus Profiler with all protective shields and doors in place.

    4. Do not reach into the tool except to place your sample on the chuck.  Do not put your hands under the scan head, or you may damage the stylus.

  2. EQUIPMENT

    1. KLA P17 Stylus Profiler

      1. Manufacturer: KLA, Model: P-17 (0389982-000), S/N: 7092335

      2. Computer, keyboard, trackball and monitor

      3. Isolation table

      4. VLSI Standards;

        1. VLSI Step Height Standard, 1.75 mm

  3. TOOL CONFIGURATION

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  1. CYCLE OF OPERATION

    1. Enable the tool in iLab

    2. Double click the “ProfilerKill.exe” icon and then select the “OK” button in the information window.

    3. Double click the Profiler icon and wait for the machine to initialize.

    4. It may take a minute for the “Welcome to Apex 2D” window to minimize.

    5. Click on the Scan Recipe in the upper left of the catalog page

    6. Choose an existing recipe by selecting a recipe then pressing View/Modify button or make a new recipe by pressing New button

    7. Press XY button to switch to camera mode

    8. Press the MAN LOAD button which will cause the stage to move toward the front of the tool.

    9. After the stage movement stops, open the door

  2. BASELINE or MEASUREMENT

    1. Load the VLSI standard or your clean, dry sample with extreme care placing it in the exact center of the chuck covering all 5 small vacuum ports. Note:  Keep your hand away from the stylus head to avoid damage to the instrument.

    2. Turn on the vacuum switch to prevent the sample from moving
              Note: Small samples that do not cover all 5 vacuum ports require the exposed vacuum ports be covered with small pieces of
                         silicon or glass OR the sample can be mounted to a larger carrier

    3. Close the door

    4. Press the MAN LOAD again to move the chuck into the measurement position

    5. Verify the sample is in the center of the stage and under the stylus

    6. Press the FOCUS , this will move the stylus head down to the surface of the sample. The movement can be stopped at any time by pressing the “Esc” key on the keyboard.

    7. Use the arrows or click on the image to position the sample for measurement

    8. Click and drag (from left to right) to define the stylus scan path if not already defined. The path will be indicated by a blue line with an arrow indicating the scan direction.

    9. Refer to Section5 of this document if the scan parameters need be adjusted

    10. Press the START button at the top of the menu bar

  3. LEVELING

    1. Once the scan is finished, press the LEVEL button at the top menu bar

    2. Drag, pull and manipulate the left and right Level bar cursors to define a flat and even plane

    3. Press the LEVEL button a second time to planarize the scan results

image-20250616-202409.png

 

 

  1. STEP MEASUREMENT

    1. Position the left and right Measurement cursors to define the differential step

    2. Record the difference in height between the two cursors displayed next to St Height

    3. If another measurement location is to be measured, press the XY button to move the sample, press “No” for saved data and then the scan path can be redefined.

    4. When finished, press the XY button and the press “No” for the saved data.

    5. Press the MAN LOAD button which will cause the stage to move toward the front of the tool

    6. After the stage movement stops, open the door

    7. Turn off the vacuum switch

    8. Carefully remove your sample from the stage

    9. Close the door

    10. Press the MAN LOAD button which will cause the stage to move toward the home position

    11. Exit the software by clicking on the “x” in the upper right corner for both screens. Select “Discard Changes” and click “OK”.

    12. Click on the “X” in the upper right corner and then click “Yes”.

    13. Log out of the iLab session.

  2. SUPPLEMENTAL DATA - Editing Recipes

    1. Review and configure the scan parameters

    2. X Scan Size = scan length (blue arrow length)

    3. Scan Speed (slower for less noise)

    4. Sampling Rate (amount of data collected)

    5. Scan Direction (Always scan left to right)

    6. Applied Force (Use 1 mg force for soft metals or polymers & use 2 mg force for metals and semiconductors

    7. Range/Resolution (Ensure the step height maximum of the feature on interest is within this range

    8. For short scans, 2mm and smaller, the general rule of thumb is to keep the scan time between 5 and 10 seconds

    9. The General Parameters tab, and the Roughness Waviness tab may be used to determine slope, area, roughness, and other parameters from your scan analysis.

    10. The MicroHead V SR (standard range) has a vertical range of 327 um, and is capable of scanning at forces between 0.5 and 5 mg

    11. The BNC unit has a 2 mm radius tip with a 60° angle installed that limits the maximum force to 2mg

    12. The theta stage movement is controlled through the software on the Teach Scan Length screen.

    13. The P17 Stylus profiler at Purdue is equipped with the standard head configuration capable of 150mm scan lengths

    14. Resolution is approximately 10 angstroms and a 20 angstroms noise floor

    15. The software controlled motorized stage rides on a 12-inch optical flat

    16. Vertical range 10 mm to 327mm

    17. Substrate size from 3mmX3mm up to 200mm diameter

    18. 2-micon radius diamond stylus with 60° cone angle tip

    19. Sample Surface Limitations

      1. No uncured SU8

      2. No uncured PDMS

      3. No uncured photoresists

      4. No other soft materials that might stick to the stylus

  3. STARTUP

    1. Verify the tool is enabled in iLab

    2. Verify the computer is powered on

    3. Login if the KLA-Tencor software is not running (shown in Figure1)

      1. Username: Operator

      2. Password: research

    4. Double click on the Profiler icon

  4. SHUTDOWN

    1. Verify the sample has been removed sample from the stage and the stage is in the home position

    2. Exit out of the software

    3. Disable the tool in iLab

  5. REVISION RECORD

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Written SOP