Radiant energy – Inspection of solids or liquids by charged particles
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2003-10-21
Lee, John R. (Department: 2881)
Radiant energy
Inspection of solids or liquids by charged particles
C250S307000, C073S104000, C073S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06635870
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method for the analysis of one or more buried layers of an analyte material by: a) removing one or more surface layers of said analyte material with an atomic force microscopy (AFM) stylus to expose a buried layer; and b) analyzing the buried layer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Methods are known for analysis of thin buried layers in a material sample which involve removal of a surface layer by chemical means, or means which cause chemical alteration in the sample. While such methods may be useful for elemental analysis, they are of very limited use for molecular analysis since they inherently involve alteration of molecular structure. One such method is sputtering, wherein the sample is treated with an ion beam in the kilovolt energy range. Since sputtering breaks intramolecular chemical bonds and destroys molecular information, sputter depth profiling is typically used for elemental analysis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, the present invention provides a method for the analysis of one or more buried layers of an analyte material by: a) removing one or more surface layers of the analyte material with an atomic force microscopy (AFM) stylus or similar stylus apparatus to expose a buried layer; and b) analyzing the buried layer by a surface analytical technique.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus combining an atomic force microscopy (AFM) device or similar stylus device and one or more additional surface analytical devices, in particular where the apparati are housed in cooperating atmosphere-controlled chambers and under cooperating computer control.
What has not been described in the art, and is provided by the present invention, is a method for molecular analysis of buried layers of an analyte material at depths of a few Angstroms up to about 300 &mgr;m without chemical alteration of the material.
In this application:
“buried layer” includes a buried object or a segment of a buried layer or object;
“analyte” refers to a sample of material to be analyzed; and
“vacuum” means, with reference to an analytical technique performed under sub-atmospheric pressures, a sub-atmospheric pressure suitable for the practice of that technique, and is preferably less than 1.3×10
−2
Pa (1×10
−4
torr), more preferably less than 1.3×10
−4
Pa (1×10
−6
torr) and even more preferably less than 1.3×10
−6
Pa (1×10
−8
torr).
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for molecular analysis of buried layers of an analyte material at depths of a few Angstroms up to about 300 &mgr;m.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5210425 (1993-05-01), Delawski et al.
patent: 5621211 (1997-04-01), Spence
patent: 5831181 (1998-11-01), Majumdar et al.
patent: 5922214 (1999-07-01), Liu et al.
patent: 6124142 (2000-09-01), Fujino et al.
patent: 6131580 (2000-10-01), Ratner et al.
patent: 6337479 (2002-01-01), Kley
patent: 0 721 101 (1996-07-01), None
patent: 0 899 561 (1999-03-01), None
Memmert, U., Hodel, U., Hartmann, U.; “Combined Ultrahigh Vacuum Scanning Tunneling Microscope Scanning Electron Microscope System”,Rev. Sci. Instrum., vol. 67, (6), pp. 2269-2273, Jun. 1996.
“SPM Techniques Evolve Rapidly Using Diverse Probe Materials”,R&D Magazine, pp. 35-38, Apr. 1999.
Hues, S. M., Draper, C. F., Colton, R. J.; “Measurement Of Nanomechanical Properties Of Metals Using The Atomic Force Microscope”,J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B, vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 2211-2214, May/Jun. 1994.
Fuhihira, M. et al.; “Scanning Prove Microscopies For Molecular Photodiodes”,Thin Solid Films, vol. 273, 1996, pp. 163-176.
Chen, X., et al.; “Combined Surface Plasmon Resonance and Scanning Force Microscope Instrument”,Journal Of Vacuum Science and Technology, Part B, vol. 14, No. 3, May 1996, pp. 1582-1586.
Stavrev, M., et al.; “Sputtering of Tantalum-based Diffusion Barriers in Si/Cu Metallization: Effects of Gas Pressure and Composition”,Applied Surface Science, vol. 91, 1995, pp. 257-262.
Sohn, L. L., et al.; “Fabrication of Nanostructures Using Atomic-force-microscope-based Lithography”,Applied Physics Letters., vol. 67, No. 11, Sep. 11, 1996, pp. 1552-1554.
Leadley, S. R., et al.; “The Use of SIMS, XPS and in situ AFM to Prove the Acid Catalyzed Hydrolysis of poly(orthoesters)”,Biomaterials, vol. 19, 1998, pp. 1353-1360.
Perez-Rodriquez, A. et al.; “Physical Techniques for Silicon Layer Analysis”,Microelectronic Engineering, vol. 40, 1998, pp. 223-227.
Jones Vivian Wynne
Pachuta Steven John
Dahl Philip Y.
Fernandez Kalimah
Lee John R.
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for molecular analysis of buried layers does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for molecular analysis of buried layers, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for molecular analysis of buried layers will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3144296