THIN FILMS THICKNESS MEASURING SYSTEM - KLA Tencor Alpha Step IQ stylus-based surface profiler measures and analyzes thin step heights, surface micro roughness, and overall form error on thin film surface coatings while providing sufficient vertical range for large topography variations. This system offers the most complete suite of two-dimensional analysis features for surface topography analysis on a variety of surfaces including wafers, MEMS, ceramics, etc.

KLA Tencor Alpha Step IQ

Technical specifications:

• Scanning stylus (standard): 5 - micron radius tip, 60° angled stylus
• Stylus force: 15 mg (nominal setting)
• Profile length (max): 10 mm in the right direction 2 mm in the left direction
• Maximum step height: 2 mm (for stepping down conditions only)
• Scan Length: 10 mm
• Scan Speed: 2 μm/s to 200 μm/s
• Sampling Rate: 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 Hz
• Vertical Range: ± 10 μm (20 μm) at 0.012 Å vertical resolution
                         ± 200 μm (400 μm) at 0.24 Å vertical resolution
                         ± 1000 μm (2000 μm) at 1.2 Å vertical resolution
• Horizontal Resolution: 0.01 μm (100 Å) at 2 μm/s scan speed
• Scan Method: Moving stylus, stationary stage
• Stylus Control: Manually adjustable force
• Range: 1.0 - 99.9 mg Resolution: 0.1 mg (~ 0.5mg standard deviation)
• Optical Magnification:  
           1) standard: 70 - 210 x
           2) high mag. option: 160 - 480 x Step Height Repeatability: 1) At 20 μm range: 0.0008 μm (8 Å) typical standard deviation1 or 0.1% of measured vertical range
           3) at 400 μm range 0.005 μm (4,000 Å) typical standard deviation or 0.2% of the measured vertical range.
           4) at 2,000 μm range 0.030 μm (2 μm) typical standard deviation or 0.5% of the measured vertical range.
• Z control : interactive control via software
• Maximum sample size: 158 mm diameter
• Maximum sample thickness: 21 mm
• Maximum sample weight: 1 kg
• Throat depth: 81 mm
• X/Y maximum travel: 151 mm x 80 mm
• Stage rotation: 360°, unlimited manual rotation
• Leveling: manual and various software leveling of profiles.

Services: Measurements and analysis of thin step heights (i.e. thickness of thin or thick films) and surface micro roughness.