Cantilevered microtip manufacturing by ion implantation and etching

US5026437A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Tencor Instruments · US

Inventors

• Armand P. Neukermans · Palo Alto, US
• Josef Berger · Tegernsee, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 22, 1990
• Grant date: Jun 25, 1991
• Expiry date: Jan 22, 2010

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S438/924
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method for fabricating a microtip, cantilevered from a base and having a controllably high aspect ratio, for use in microprobe microscopy to probe variations in materials at the atomic level. A two-layer semiconductor material structure is provided, one layer being n type and the other layer being p type. A thin pencil of ions of n type is implanted through the n type layer into the p type layer, through a small aperture in a mask layer that overlies the n type layer. The p type material is then etched away, leaving the n type ion profile and the n type layer as a cantilevered microtip. The n type semiconductor layer may be replaced by a layer of any material that resists etching by the selected etchant.