Coating apparatus – Gas or vapor deposition – With treating means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-18
2001-02-06
Bueker, Richard (Department: 1763)
Coating apparatus
Gas or vapor deposition
With treating means
C118S7230FI
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182605
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to an apparatus for a particle beam induced modification of a specimen, comprising a source for generating a particle beam, nozzles for supplying a gas in the region of the specimen and electrodes which can be Supplied with a variable voltage.
Particle beam induced processes are well known for precise modification approaches especially in the semiconductor industry. Here, device modification is performed on a micrometre and nanometre scale for chip and mask repair and fast chip prototyping. Two basic modification techniques are applied for local processing with high spatial resolution: material etching and material deposition.
Those techniques are mainly applied in focussed ion beam systems. However equivalent techniques are also known from electron beam systems (D. Winkler et al, “E-beam probe station with integrated tool for electron beam induced etching”, Microelectronic engineering 31 (1996) 141 to 147).
In such a particle beam apparatus a particle beam is generated and focussed onto a specimen to be modified. A deflection system in the particle beam system deflects the beam to or scans the beam in those areas in which the modification is to take place. Additionally, a gas is supplied in the modification area of the specimen by means or a gas nozzle, which creates a gas atmosphere in the beam interaction area of the specimen. Due to the interaction of the particle beam with the gas molecules, chemically active atoms and radicals will be generated, which can interact with the specimen in the area of the beam interaction. Basically, two processes can be performed depending on the gases supplied. The following table shows some examples of materials and corresponding modification gases:
Material to be
deposited
Applied gas
Gold, Au
Dimethyl-gold-trifluoro-
acetylacetonate
Platinum, Pt
Trimethyl platinum
Tungsten, W
Tungsten hexacarbonyl
Silicon oxide
Tetramethoxysilane
Copper
Hexafluoro-acetyo-acetonate
copper vinyl-trimethy-
silane
Material to be etched
Etching gas
Silicon oxide, Silicon
Xenon-difluoride
Aluminium
Chlorine
Resist
Water
The gas supply unit has to be placed after the final objective lens very close to the specimen in order to achieve a high-density gas atmosphere for a fast modification process. This placement of the gas supply unit next to the particle beam, however, can cause limitations regarding the beam performance. Especially in high end systems, in which high spatial resolution (fine probe size) is generated by electrical fields, the nozzle generates interferences. Since the nozzle is made of conductive material (in order to avoid charging), it distorts the electrical field and will consequently increase the probe diameter of the particle beam. This will reduce system resolution and, correspondingly, will increase the minimum feature size applicable for modification.
JP-A-01 169 858 discloses an apparatus for a particle beam induced modification of a specimen according to the preamble to claim
1
. The deflecting means of this known apparatus is constituted of multiple deflecting electrodes arranged axially symmetrically with the optical axis of the charged particle beam. At least one of the deflecting electrodes is used as a gas pipe to guide the gas to the surface of the specimen.
The object of the invention is to improve the apparatus for particle beam induced modification so that it allows particle beam modification without the restriction of resolution loss due to the presence of the gas supply means.
The object is achieved by the features of claim
1
in that the electrodes are forming a tube and the nozzles, being integrated in the electrodes, are leading into the tube.
By arranging the electrodes in the form of a tube, it is possible to create a homogenous gas atmosphere within the tube which results in a more uniform material edging or material deposition.
This effect can be further improved, if the tube has a cover with an incident opening for the particle beam.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5342448 (1994-08-01), Hamamura et al.
patent: 5885354 (1999-03-01), Frosien et al.
Advantest Corp.
Bueker Richard
MacArthur Sylvia R.
Muramatsu & Associates
LandOfFree
Apparatus for particle beam induced modification of a specimen does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for particle beam induced modification of a specimen, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for particle beam induced modification of a specimen will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2596908