Sematech, Xidex use carbon nanotubes for microscopy
By Mark LaPedus , Silicon Strategies
February 24, 2005 (2:10 AM EST)
URL: http://www.eet.com/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=60403102&sub_taxonomyID=

SAN JOSE, Calif. — International Sematech and Xidex Corp. on Wednesday (Feb. 23) claimed that they have developed a scanning probe microscope (SPM) technology, based on carbon nanotubes.

The technology will reinforce the need to deploy atomic force microscopy (AFM) for future device engineering and production. AFM, a form of SPM, is making the transition to semiconductor manufacturing.

The technology from Sematech and Xidex uses carbon nanotubes as surface sensors for SPMs, which can be used to measure the dimensions of semiconductor devices.

The measurements are conducted via a single carbon nanotube tip. The tips, which are grown directly on commercially available silicon cantilevers, are said to enable the measurement of devices as small as 1-nm, according to the companies.

Carbon-nanotube developer Xidex (Austin, Texas) produced the tips in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin.

The work is being done in the Advanced Materials Research Center (AMRC). The AMRC was launched in March 2004 by the State of Texas and Sematech (Austin) to work with the UT System and other Texas universities in investigating new semiconductor technologies.

"Our objective is to assure a supply of commercially available carbon-nanotube tips for our member companies by working with Xidex to scale up their proprietary process," said John Allgair, a Sematech lithography metrology program manager, in a statement.

"Carbon nanotube tips will make AFMs much more effective as laboratory diagnostic tools, and also give them the capability needed for in-line metrology on the production floor," said Vladimir Mancevski, Xidex founder and CTO, in a statement.