NSF Award
9760753
9760753 Mancevski This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses research to demonstrate the feasibility of a new generation of Six Degree-of-Freedom (Six-DOF) Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) tools for use in microelectronics manufacturing that overcome limitations inherent in the sensing and control system architectures of existing lower degree-of-freedom AFMs. This will be achieved by merging elements of current AFM technology with a Six-DOF sensing system invented and patented by the University of Texas-Austin. This Six-DOF sensing system is capable of measuring all six absolute degrees of freedom of a body of space, such as a deflecting AFM cantilever. XIDEX calls the resulting new generation of tools "6D-AFM" tools. 6D-AFMs will be used for material characterization, chemical-mechanical planarization monitoring, precision surface profiling and critical dimension metrology. The sensing system of a 6D-AFM will be completely decoupled from the actuator, enabling it to measure at even better resolutions than the actuator itself, and do so while the actuator is in motion. XIDEX will develop, manufacture and sell 6D-AFM tools to the semiconductor industry for material characterization, critical dimension metrology, and precision surface profiling and to other attractive market segments and niches such as lithography, biological sampling, and nanoprobe research instrumentation.
