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    Applied Surface Analysis Tuesday Sessions
       Session AS-TuP

Paper AS-TuP5
The Particularities of In-line Control Tools Employing Electron Spectroscopic Methods

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Aspects of Applied Surface Analysis II Poster Session
Presenter: L. Vasilyev, Surface Interface Inc.
Authors: L. Vasilyev, Surface Interface Inc.
C. Bryson, Surface Interface Inc.
D. Klyachko, Surface Interface Inc.
B. Linder, Surface Interface Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
The minitiaturization of electronic devices will inevitably lead to the development of the new methods of in-line control. One of the good candidates for such a method of in-line control is electron spectroscopy that is characterized by a better surface sensitivity compared to the currently used optical methods. In addition, electron spectroscopy provides quantitative information regarding the chemical composition of thin films at the surface. The specific requirements to the in-line control tools affect the design of electron spectrometers now mostly used in the research laboratory environment. 1. The in-line tool is application specific. It is optimized to perform a limited number of tasks with a best possible reproducibility and a required precision. 2. The tool must be simple in use and can be operated by a technician with a rather low education level. This requires high degree of automation that includes control of the system status, in-line data analysis and data reduction, aiming to detect and eliminate wrong data, quantify the results and perform self-diagnostics and calibration. 3. The software is an integral part of the tool that is specific for a given type of the hardware. By limiting its flexibility it is possible to reduce the time and cost of its development and to customize for a particular task. 4. High throughput and low price are the key issues for the in-line tool to be accepted in industry. Non-traditional and application specific design of the vacuum chamber and the measurement units could substantially reduce their price and increase the throughput. 5. The whole power of the electron spectroscopy (not only AES and XPS) must be utilized for these applications. For example, Beta backscattering can be utilized for film thickness control in hard drive industry. Here we describe our experience of the development of in line control electron spectrometer utilized for thin carbon based overcoat control.