Capacitance based scanner for thickness mapping of thin dielectric films

We have recently developed a technique capable of mapping variations in the thickness of thin dielectric films. This technique is based on accurately recording the capacitance between a spherical probe and the conductive substrate of a dielectric film. Once the capacitance has been recorded, and assuming the dielectric constant is known, the thickness of the film can be readily extracted, with better than 0.2 μm accuracy. In the current …