This application note discusses components and technologies specific to the KLA Instruments stylus profilers, including topography measurement, force control, scanning mechanism, stylus types and dimensions, and stylus profilometry applications.

Multi-Step Analysis is a new automated algorithm that automatically measures step height/trench depth for up to 30 features along a scan profile, including automatic cursor placement. This capability significantly improves time-to-results and removes measurement variability relative to previous manual methods.

The topography sensor is one component of the stylus measurement head, which is used to track the surface of the sample being measured. Three major sensor types are LVDT, Optical Lever and LVDC, and this application note discusses the design of each.

The depth of SIMS craters generated by ion beam milling is used to determine the concentration of impurities. The objective of this application note is to present a technique to accurately measure the depth of shallow SIMS craters using a stylus profiler.

KLA Instruments^™ stylus profilometers may be used with different styli to optimize measurements for specific applications. The KLA profilers, including the Alpha-Step^® D-Series, Tencor^™ P-Series and High Resolution Profiler (HRP^®) Series all use the same stylus design. This application note discusses the various types of styli available for these stylus profilometers and typical applications for their use.

Stylus profilers from KLA Instruments are available with advanced 2D/3D surface analysis software to provide additional insight into profilometer measurement data. The Apex software includes data processing, analysis, visualization and reporting capabilities for both 2D profiles and 3D topography.