Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080223122 | SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE - A scanning probe microscope, capable of performing shape measurement not affected by electrostatic charge distribution of a sample, which: monitors an electrostatic charge state by detecting a change in a flexure or vibrating state of a cantilever due to electrostatic charges in synchronization with scanning during measurement with relative scanning between the probe and the sample, and makes potential adjustment so as to cancel an influence of electrostatic charge distribution, thus preventing damage of the probe or the sample due to discharge and achieving reduction in measurement errors due to electrostatic charge distribution. | 09-18-2008 |
20090158828 | Scanning Probe Microscope - In the case of measuring a pattern having a steep side wall, a probe adheres to the side wall by the van der Waals forces acting between the probe and the side wall when approaching the pattern side wall, and an error occurs in a measured profile of the side wall portion. When a pattern having a groove width almost equal to a probe diameter is measured, the probe adheres to both side walls, the probe cannot reach the groove bottom, and the groove depth cannot be measured. When the probe adheres to a pattern side wall in measurements of a microscopic high-aspect ratio pattern using an elongated probe, the probe is caused to reach the side wall bottom by detecting the adhesion of the probe to the pattern side wall, and temporarily increasing a contact force between the probe and the sample. Also, by obtaining the data of the amount of torsion of a cantilever with the shape data of the pattern, a profile error of the side wall portion by the adhesion is corrected by the obtained data of the amount of torsion. | 06-25-2009 |
20100088042 | Apparatus And Method For Testing Defects - An apparatus and method for detecting defects on a specimen includes an illumination optical unit which obliquely projects a laser focused onto a line on a surface of the specimen, a table unit which mounts the specimen and which is movable, a detection optical unit which detects with an image sensor an image of light formed by light reflected from the specimen and passed through a filter which blocks diffraction light resulting from patterns formed on the specimen, a signal processor which processes a signal outputted from the image sensor of the detection optical unit to extract defects of the specimen, and a display unit which displays information of defects extracted by the signal processor. The filter is adjustable. | 04-08-2010 |
20140298548 | SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE - A scanning probe microscope is provided for scanning a sample surface with a probe formed on a cantilever and detecting an interaction acting between the probe and the sample surface to measure a physical property including a surface shape of the sample. The microscope includes an arrangement for detecting torsion of the cantilever and for correcting a profile error caused by deflection of the probe and torsion of the cantilever based on the amount of torsion which is detected. | 10-02-2014 |