Alpha-Step^® D-600 Stylus Profiler

The Alpha-Step D-600 stylus profiler is capable of measuring 2D and 3D step heights from a few nanometers to 1200µm. The D-600 profilometer also supports 2D and 3D stylus measurements of roughness, plus 2D bow and stress for R&D and production environments. The D-600 includes a motorized stage with a 200mm sample chuck and advanced optics with enhanced video controls.

Product Description

The Alpha-Step D-600 stylus profiler supports 2D and 3D surface measurements of step heights and roughness, plus 2D bow and stress. The stylus profiler’s innovative optical lever sensor technology offers high resolution measurements, large vertical range and low force measurement capability.

An advantage of the stylus measurement technique is that it is a direct measurement, independent of material properties. Adjustable force and choice of stylus enable accurate measurements of a wide variety of structures and materials. This stylus measurement option enables quantification of your process to determine the amount of material added or removed, plus any changes in structure by measuring roughness and stress.

Features

Step Height: Nanometers to 1200µm
Low Force: 0.03 to 15mg
Video: 5MP high-resolution color camera
Keystone Correction: Removes distortion due to side view optics
Arc Correction: Removes error due to arc motion of the stylus
Compact Size: Small system footprint
Software: User friendly software interface

Applications

Step Height: 2D and 3D step height
Texture: 2D and 3D roughness and waviness
Form: 2D bow and shape
Stress: 2D thin film stress

Industries

Universities, research labs and institutes
Semiconductor and compound semiconductor
LED: Light emitting diodes
Solar
MEMS: Micro-electro-mechanical systems
Automotive
Medical devices
And more: Contact us with your requirements

The options for the Alpha-Step^® D-600 Stylus Profiler are available to add on with your new product, or in the future. Contact your sales rep to learn more.

Stylus Options

The Alpha-Step D-600 has a variety of styli available. Stylus measurements include step heights, high aspect ratio steps, roughness, sample bow, and stress. The stylus tip radius ranges from 100nm to 50µm and determines the lateral resolution of the measurement. The included angle ranges from 20 to 100 degrees, which specifies the maximum aspect ratio of the measured feature. All styli are manufactured from diamond to reduce stylus wear and increase stylus lifetime.

Sample Chucks

The Alpha-Step D-600 has a range of chucks available to support application requirements. The standard chuck is a nickel-plated aluminum vacuum chuck for samples up to 200mm. A universal vacuum chuck is also offered and includes precision locating pins for samples from 50mm to 200mm. Both options support stress measurements with 3-point locators to hold the sample in a neutral position for accurate bow measurements.

Isolation Tables

The Alpha-Step D-600 has both tabletop and free-standing isolation table options. The Granite Isolator^™ Series offers tabletop isolation systems that combine granite with high grade silicone gel to provide passive isolation. The Onyx Series tabletop isolation systems use pneumatic air isolators to provide passive isolation. The TMC 63-500 Series isolation table is a free-standing steel frame table that uses pneumatic air isolators to provide passive isolation.

Step Height Standards

The Alpha-Step D-600 uses thin and thick film NIST traceable step height standards offered by VLSI Standards. The standards feature an oxide step on a silicon die mounted on a quartz block. A step height range of 8nm to 250µm is available.

Apex Analysis Software

Apex analysis software enhances the standard data analysis capability of the D-600 with an extended suite of leveling, filtering, step height, roughness, and surface topography analysis techniques. Apex supports ISO roughness calculation methods, plus local standards such as ASME. Apex can also serve as a report writing platform with the capability to add text, annotations, and pass/fail criteria. Apex is offered in eleven languages.

Offline Analysis Software

The Alpha-Step D-600 offline software has the same data analysis capability that exists on the tool. This enables the user to analyze data without using valuable tool time.

ProfilmOnline Web Application

Filmetrics ProfilmOnline is a cloud-based 3D data visualization and analysis platform developed as part of the Profilm software suite. ProfilmOnline is the place to share, store, view and analyze 3D data, whether you’re on your computer or a mobile device. Apps for Android and iOS operating systems are available and a wide variety of file formats is supported. Data can be encrypted for security.

Learn more

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The KLA Instruments Zeta-20 was used to map and compare the surface topography of Halloween candy favorites, including M&Ms, Bit-O-Honey, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Heath Bars, Jolly Ranchers, Skittles, Snickers, SweeTarts, Kit Kat bars, Lemonheads, candy corn, and bubblegum. Yum!

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General Information about Stylus-based Surface Profilers from KLA Instruments^™

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.

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Multi-Step Analysis Function: Powerful Analytics from KLA Instruments^™ Surface Profilers

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.

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Topography Sensor Technology for Stylus Profilers

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.

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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.

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Stylus Product Line

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.

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Apex Software

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.

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Alpha-Step^® D-600 Stylus Profiler

Alpha-Step^® D-600 Stylus Profiler

Product Description

Features

Applications

Industries

Step Height

Texture: Roughness and Waviness

Form: Bow and Shape

Stress: 2D Thin Film Stress

Stylus Options

Sample Chucks

Isolation Tables

Step Height Standards

Apex Analysis Software

Offline Analysis Software