Method and device for simultaneously measuring the thickness of multiple thin metal films in a multilayer structure

US6069703A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Active Impulse Systems, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Matthew Banet · Del Mar, US
• Martin Fuchs · Uxbridge, US
• John A. Rogers · Champaign, US
• Keith A. Nelson · Newton, US
• Timothy F. Crimmins · Cambridge, US
• Alexei Maznev · Natick, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 28, 1998
• Grant date: May 30, 2000
• Expiry date: May 28, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2291/02854
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An apparatus for measuring a property of a structure comprising at least one layer, the appratus including a light source that produces an optical pulse having a duration of less than 10 ps; a diffractive element that receives the optical pulse and diffracts it to generate at least two excitation pulses; an optical system that spatially and temporally overlaps at least two excitation pulses on or in the structure to form an excitation pattern, containing at least two light regions, that launches an acoustic wave having an out-of-plane component that propagates through the layer, reflects off a lower boundary of the layer, and returns to a surface of the structure to modulate a property of the structure; a light source that produces a probe pulse that diffracts off the modulated property to generate at least one signal pulse; a detector that receives at least one signal pulse and in response generates a light-induced electrical signal; and an analyzer that analyzes the light-induced electrical signal to measure the property of the structure.