SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE GIGAHERTZ MEASUREMENTS ON 200 NANOMETER WAVE-GUIDES

Scanning probe microscopy is opening new applications in microelectron ic engineering due to easy and reliable instrumentation in combination with superior resolution limits without any sample preparation under ambient conditions. Beside the standard topography imaging possible ap plication are static and dynamic surface potential measurements, dopin g profiling, and scanning thermal applications. In this paper, we repo rt dynamic voltage contrast measurements of analog and digital gigaher tz signals on 200 nm wave guides within integrated microelectronic dev ices and components. The results are obtained by using a time resolved device internal test technique based on a scanning force microscope u sing the electrostatic force interaction. This technique enables volta ge contrast even within passivated integrated circuits with nanometer spatial resolution and gigahertz measurement bandwidth and additionall y millivolt sensitivity.