Probe Tip Replacement System Inside the FIB
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0983-LL05-07
Probe Tip Replacement System Inside the FIB Gonzalo Amador, Lyudmila Zaykova-Feldman, and Thomas M. Moore Omniprobe, Inc., 10410 Miller Rd., Dallas, TX, 75238
ABSTRACT The in-situ lift-out method for TEM sample preparation, based on the use of a chambermounted nanomanipulator and FIB induced material deposition, has proven its effectiveness over the last several years. The time-efficiency introduced by this method is one reason for its success and rapid adoption within the semiconductor industry. Improvements to in-situ TEM lift-out preparation have been pursued to further reduce sample processing time. One area targeted has involved methods to enable rapid in-situ probe tip replacement without having to remove the probe shaft from the vacuum chamber. This paper describes an in-situ probe tip replacement system that successfully solves this problem. INTRODUCTION In-situ lift-out has become the method of choice for high throughput, site specific TEM sample preparation, especially in the semiconductor industry where the use of this method precludes the need to sacrifice costly 300mm wafers for process control monitoring. In-situ liftout is based on the use of a chamber-mounted nanomanipulator and FIB-induced material deposition [1-3]. In-situ probe tip exchange within the FIB increases throughput and improves efficient use of FIB resources and supports advanced automation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS In this article, the method of in-situ probe tip replacement is described [4]. The goal was to find a means to create a continuous process in which probe tips would be delivered into the FIB, attached to TEM samples excised from the wafer, deposited into an internal cassette, and then transferred, in quantities, outside the FIB for further processing and analysis. The system designed to achieve this end is accomplished using a novel probe tip design (Fig. 1), a specialized gripping mechanism to hold the probe tip (Fig. 2) and a custom cassette for housing both empty and specimen loaded probe tips (Fig. 4).
Figure 1. The modified probe tip.
Figure 2. The gripping mechanism with the probe tip.
Critical to the success of the in-situ probe tip replacement process is the “collared” probe tip. Seen in Figure 1, the unique feature of the new probe tip design is a small collar attached to the body of the tip. The collar serves as a mechanical stop during loading and unloading the tip to and from a cassette. Figure 3 shows an example of a delivery cassette mounted to a multi-stub holder common to wafer FIBs. This cassette holds two probe tips though cassettes with a greater number of probe tip stations are possible. Each probe tip station contains a pocket in which the probe tip collar is housed. The pocket captures the probe tip, locates it with respect to the rear wall and retains the probe tip orientation for future processing. Figure 4 depicts a dual probe tip cassette with a detachable handle attached to it, for convenient transportation.
Figure 3. The probe tip cassette on a standard multi-stub FIB sample holder
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