Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/30—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects
  • H01J37/305—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects for casting, melting, evaporating, or etching
  • H01J37/3053—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects for casting, melting, evaporating, or etching for evaporating or etching
  • H01J37/3056—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects for casting, melting, evaporating, or etching for evaporating or etching for microworking, e. g. etching of gratings or trimming of electrical components
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N1/00—Sampling; Preparing specimens for investigation
  • G01N1/28—Preparing specimens for investigation including physical details of (bio-)chemical methods covered elsewhere, e.g. G01N33/50, C12Q
  • G01N1/286—Preparing specimens for investigation including physical details of (bio-)chemical methods covered elsewhere, e.g. G01N33/50, C12Q involving mechanical work, e.g. chopping, disintegrating, compacting, homogenising
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/25—Tubes for localised analysis using electron or ion beams
  • H01J2237/2505—Tubes for localised analysis using electron or ion beams characterised by their application
  • H01J2237/2583—Tubes for localised analysis using electron or ion beams characterised by their application using tunnel effects, e.g. STM, AFM
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/30—Electron or ion beam tubes for processing objects
  • H01J2237/304—Controlling tubes
  • H01J2237/30472—Controlling the beam
  • H01J2237/30483—Scanning
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/30—Electron or ion beam tubes for processing objects
  • H01J2237/31—Processing objects on a macro-scale
  • H01J2237/3114—Machining
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/30—Electron or ion beam tubes for processing objects
  • H01J2237/317—Processing objects on a microscale
  • H01J2237/3174—Etching microareas
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/30—Electron or ion beam tubes for processing objects
  • H01J2237/317—Processing objects on a microscale
  • H01J2237/3174—Etching microareas
  • H01J2237/31745—Etching microareas for preparing specimen to be viewed in microscopes or analyzed in microanalysers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/30—Electron or ion beam tubes for processing objects
  • H01J2237/317—Processing objects on a microscale
  • H01J2237/31749—Focused ion beam

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing three-dimensional nano and micro structures and to such structures.
• thermocouples or SQUIDs using ion beam milling. Ion beam milling is performed on a material to expose a sliver. A sharp probe is then attached to the sliver, for example by deposition of a tungsten weld. Further ion beam milling is then performed to separate the sliver from the material. The sliver is then ion beam milled to produce the device.
• the thermocouple is mounted to a substrate such as a silicon wafer having integrated signal conditioning circuitry. The methods allows small components to be accurately manufactured without being constrained by typical lithographic constraints.
• the present invention seeks to provide an improved method and apparatus able to produce reliably and with high precision nano and micrometre structures and to such structures.
• a method of milling a three-dimensional form for the production of a three-dimensional structure including the steps of: determining a milling rate of a material to be milled in dependence on ion beam strength and dwell time; and milling by means of ion beam milling an article made of said material on the basis of the determined milling rate, wherein the milling step mills adjacent areas of the article at different depths to produce a shape varying in three dimensions.
• the milling step comprises a plurality of milling passes.
• the method includes the step of milling at least one following pass in the plurality of passes over a region milled in a previous pass.
• said following milling pass mills over a part of a previous milled pass.
• At least some sequential milling passes are milled concentrically. Additionally or alternatively, at least some sequential milling passes are milled non-concentrically.
• the method preferably includes the step of measuring actual milled depth within a milled structure.
• the milled depth may be measured by means of an atomic force microscope.
• milling depth is measured during the step of milling. It may be measured prior to milling a subsequent area within the milling step.
• the method mills a three-dimensional article.
• a replica of an article is milled, the replica being used in a subsequent manufacturing step to manufacture an article with a three-dimensional structure.
• the method mills three-dimensional structures having dimensions of the order of nanometres and/or micrometres.
• the method may mill a concave structure, for use for instance as a lens or mirror, having a diameter of the order of micrometres or nanometres and a depth of the order of micrometres or nanometres.
• the method may similarly mill convex articles.
• the method preferably mills articles with substantially smooth surfaces.
• a system for milling a three-dimensional pattern in a device including: an ion column operable to generate an ion beam able to mill an object; a diagnostic unit operable to determine or obtain a milling rate of the material of the device based upon the ion beam strength and ion beam dwell time; a control unit for controlling the ion column on the basis of the determined milling rate and three-dimensional pattern to be milled; wherein the control unit is operable to mill adjacent areas of the device at different depths so as to produce a three-dimensional milled pattern.
• control unit is operable to control the ion column to mill the device in a plurality of milling passes.
• control unit is operable to control the intensity of the ion beam generated by the ion column and/or the dwell time of the ion beam.
• the system preferably, includes a database of milling depth, beam intensity and beam dwell time for one or more materials.
• the database may be in the form of a look-up table.
• a calibration standard including a three-dimensional pattern having a micrometre or nanometre scale.
• a device having a three-dimensional milled pattern or structure of a size of the order of micrometres or nanometres.
• Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of beam overlap showing pitch and spot size
• Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of typical focused ion beam instrument with computer control for stage and scan-coils
• Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of an AFM incorporated onto the sample stage to provide feedback about milled volume
• Figure 4 is a plot of milled depths at lOOpA for a range of beam conditions
• Figure 5 is a plot of normalised milling rates at lOOpA for a range of beam conditions
• Figure 6 is a model output for parabolic dish of lO ⁇ m diameter and lO ⁇ m focal length showing 28 circles defining the parabolic dish;
• Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing a first circle (first pass) which is milled from the outside edge in a circular motion of the beam in the production of a three- dimensional structure;
• Figure 8 shows the second milling pass in the embodiment method of Figure 7;
• Figure 9 shows a detail of the effects of the second and subsequent milling passes on the part-milled structure of Figure 8;
• Figure 10 is an enlarged view of the milling process of Figures 7, 8 and 9;
• Figure 11 shows an SEM micrograph of four parabolic dishes of differing focal length milled into silicon;
• Figure 12 shows a MATLAB map for use in generating milling data
• Figure 13 is a two dimensional line plot of the "Gibbs effect” plotted in MATLAB;
• Figures 14a and 14b show three dimensional plots of the Gibbs effect for the first nine harmonics in the series, and its conversion to the colour map winter;
• Figure 15 shows a converted two dimensional plot using colour map winter, the intensity of G (green) and B (blue) in the image denoting height;
• Figure 16 shows an SEM micrograph of milled bitmap pattern, shown from three different views, the sample being shown tilted with respect to the beam to show the topography;
• Figure 17 shows in schematic form a plan view of an example of a simple mask for producing roughed-out parabolic dishes
• Figure 18 is a cross-sectional view of a patterned etch stop sitting on a wafer substrate, alignment marks not being shown for the sake of clarity;
• Figure 19 is a cross-sectional view of an example of etched wafer substrate.
• Figure 20 is a cross-sectional view in plan elevation of an individual etched hole with the dashed line showing to desired final shape to produce a parabolic dish.
• ion milling can be a very powerful tool for machining and modification of nano and microstructures.
• this process in one of its simplest implementations can be used to produce site-specific TEM foils. In more complicated examples it can be used for the fabrication of MEMS devices.
• the nature of the process dictates that when ion milling, the structures produced are milled perpendicular to the beam, resulting in a milled final surface parallel to the original surface, that is holes with flat bottoms.
• a series of "scan coils" steers the beam around the sample. By determining the voltages to apply to the scan coils it is possible to position the beam anywhere in the field of view.
• milling rate we mean the amount of material that will be removed by the ion beam under a given set of beam conditions, in a given time. It can be assumed that multiple passes of the beam will remove substantially the same multiple of material as a single pass.
• the beam conditions referred to are: i) the beam current (which can be thought of as the number of ions in the beam in a given time); ii) the spot size of the beam (the diameter of the focused beam on the sample surface, this is intimately linked to the beam current); iii) the beam dwell (the amount of time the beam resides in a fixed position on the sample surface); iv) the step size (the size of step the beam makes as it passes over the sample (this is generally referred to as beam x and y pitch).
• the movement of the beam is a series of steps of x and y pitch, with the beam stopping at each step for the duration of the beam dwell; v) the beam overlap (this is simply a function of the spot size, and step). For example a 100 nm spot with a 50 nm step would result in a 50% overlap; and vi) the number of passes (simply the number of times the beam revisits the same location on the sample).
• Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of beam overlap showing pitch and spot size.
• the method and system taught herein extends two dimensional ion milling to be able to produce complex three dimensional structures with very high resolution and accuracy, by determining and using the milling rate of the chosen material.
• the preferred embodiments taught herein exploit the use of additional software and hardware that comprises an electron beam lithography system modified to drive the scan coils of an ion column instead of the usual electron column.
• Electron beam lithography can be thought of as a similar process in that the electron beam is steered around a sample coated with a resist that is cured by the electron beam dwelling for a given time at each point in the pattern.
• Such systems allow for far more complex patterns than the simple pattern generators provided by manufactures of focused ion beam instruments. Also these (e-beam) patterns can be drawn in CAD programs enabling much higher complexity and productivity.
• FIG. 2 A schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of instrument is shown in Figure 2.
• the instrument 10 is provided with an ion column 12 and, optionally, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column 14.
• the ion and SEM columns 12 and 14 feed into a vacuum chamber 16 in which there is located an instrument stage 18 upon which a specimen 20 to be milled is placed.
• a patterning computer 22 is able to control the ion column 12 and the optional SEM column 14, as well as the movement of the instrument stage 18, thereby to control the milling of a specimen 20 located in the instrument 10.
• the instrument also includes a pattern input unit for feeding into the patterning computer 22 a three dimension pattern to be milled on the specimen 20.
• the pattern input unit 24 provides a CAD file with a pattern to be milled stored thereon.
• the system makes use of the milling rate of the chosen substrate material and the development of three-dimensional patterns based on the milling rate for that material for the lithographic pattern generator.
• the milling rate for a given material is determined in the preferred embodiment by milling a plurality of simple square geometry patterns of a few micrometers side length in the material of choice, and then by measuring the milled depths with an atomic force microscope (AFM) to determine the volumes of material that have been removed.
• AFM atomic force microscope
• the preferred embodiments adopt a few shortcuts that can be exploited to arrive at a milling rate in quick order. Assuming the user has a reasonable understanding of the use of the ion beam instrument it will be within the ability of that skilled person to estimate a sensible range of likely beam values that should give the desired result.
• the typical range of ion beam currents is from 1 pA to 20 nA. Broadly this range can be applied to the size of the desired feature.
• An experienced user would not contemplate milling a 100 nm structure at 20 nA (beam spot size is approximately 425 nm at this current). Similarly one would not mill a lOO ⁇ m structure at 1 pA.
• the experienced user would aim to achieve a few 10's of percent overlap in the beam to ensure complete removal of material in the desired area. Therefore, a skilled user could generate a suitable calibration result by producing just a few examples of milled squares.
• the preferred embodiment may also include an AFM (atomic force microscope) in the ion beam chamber, so that the calibration could be done in-situ, or even with feedback from the AFM, so that the system can effectively be calibrated in real-time as the sample is milled to its final geometry.
• AFM atomic force microscope
• the embodiment shown includes an ion beam column 12, an electron beam column (SEM column) 14 and sample stage 18 as an embodiment of Figure 2. It will be appreciated that the sample would be held within a vacuum chamber 16 and that movement of the sample stage as well as of control of the two columns 12 and 14 would be effected by means of a patterning computer 22 and to the control of a patterning input 24.
• an atomic force microscope probe 26 which includes a probe tip 28 which is able to measure the amount of milling of the specimen 20 substantially at the time at which it is being milled.
• the AFM tip 28 will lag slightly the point of milling and even so it is envisaged that reading from the atomic force microscope 26 will be substantially simultaneous with the actual milling action, in other words to be effectively in real time.
• the readings from the AFM tip 28 are supplied to the patterning computer 22 which can determine therefrom the actual rate of milling of the sample 20 based upon the particular beam characteristics from the two columns 12 and 14 (in the case when the option column 14 is included). Thus, the beam characteristics of the columns 12 and 14 can be adjusted in order to adjust the rate of milling and thus the three dimensional pattern produced in the sample 20.
• the readings of the AFM tip 28 could be used in a correlation with milling data in a look-up table in the patterning computer 22 in order to calibrate this not only for the current milling stage but also for subsequent milling stages.
• a system as depicted in Figure 3 can provide a means for producing calibration data on the sample material of choice. Indeed, with care it is possible produce the final desired milled shape on the actual sample 20 using the AFM 26 to provide feedback of the milling rate.
• the AFM tip 28 could be located at the precise position where the beams 12 and 14 mill the sample 20, rather than lagging any movement of the beams 12, 14.
• Figure 4 is a plot of milled depths at lOOpA for a range of calibration conditions.
• the diamond points represent milling at 5nm x and y pitch, the square points 7nm pitch, the triangle points 10 nm pitch and the crosses 15nm pitch.
• milling twelve squares with varying dwell and pitch has yielded four milling rates.
• the dwell changes is can also be seen that the milling rate varies linearly, which simplifies the model of the milled volume considerably, and confirms that milling depth varies linearly with number of passes.
• the dwell in fact only scales linearly over a limited range, but this is the most likely to be used for the milling process. Should it be necessary to extend into the non-linear range, a simpler option is to increase the beam current or number of passes.
• the milled depth does not scale linearly with changing pitch, as can be seen in Figure 5.
• calibration can be simplified considerably and for a given beam current of 10OpA we would choose a pitch in the range 12 to 18 nm. The reason for this is that at lOOpA the spot size is 23 nm so a pitch in this range would give an overlap of about 50 to 75%. In this case as we have calibration data at 15 nm we will use this corresponding to an overlap of about 65%.
• FIG 5 there is shown a normalised plot of milled depths at lOOpA for a range of beam conditions.
• the diamonds represent milling at 2 ⁇ s and 10 passes, squares 2 ⁇ s and 20 passes and the triangles 2 ⁇ s and 50 passes. All data has been normalised for a single pass.
• the preferred embodiment for patterning is a modified electron beam lithography system. Using this system one can adopt two different methodologies to produce patterns suitable for three-dimensional milling. The first is to use a "nested pattern" the second is to use the RGB values in a bitmap image.
• each circle increases following the parabolic equation, indicating that the curve is steepest at the other edge of the dish and shallowest in the centre, as should be the case.
• a dwell can be defined based on the 100 nA beam and 15 nm pitch to produce the milled concentric circle at the correct depth.
• it is necessary also to assign a number of passes, as milling in a single pass is very prone to re-deposition of the milled material and inaccuracy of the final structure.
• the following formula can be used reliably for relatively shallow structures:
• the required beam dwell times can be calculated to produce the structure dish. Again using MATLAB code in this example, one can calculate the dwell time for the given beam current, pitch and number of passes as shown below:
• Nested patterns of other two-dimensional shapes could also be milled in a similar method where the outermost edge is milled first with the beam moving in towards the centre of the pattern.
• Figure 11 shows an electron micrograph of a series of four parabolic mirrors of different focal length milled in this way.
• the mirrors are indeed smooth.
• Further testing with both confocal microscope and optical methods have shown these dishes to be dimensionally very accurate.
• the optical method is a non-direct method where the focused spot is imaged, and if the dishes were of poor dimensional accuracy no such focused spot would be present.
• a further method of smoothing out the step edges is to very slightly understate the milling dwells for each circle but then add on a single pass over the whole structure that mills away the difference over the whole shape. This also achieves a similar effect but tends to require little trial and error to get the highest accuracy.
• a second embodiment of method has been developed where a surface plot of either a mathematical function or surface data can be milled into a substrate is now described.
• a mathematical computer code such as MATLAB one can produce a 3-D surface plot. This can then be used to define what is called a colour map to express the height in the plot, which can then be converted into an RGB bitmap that can directly read the bitmap into the lithography software for milling.
• MATLAB provides quite a few colour maps. These are variations of an RGB image where the R,G,B values are limited in their range.
• Figure 12 shows the MATLAB colour map 'winter', in which Red plot 30 is flat over the whole range, with Green 32 and Blue 34 varying linearly. This means that any image converted to use this colour map will not have any red component in the final image. Conversion involves taking the RGB value at every pixel in the image and multiplying by a conversion factor to produce the new image, or in the case of 2-D plot of 3-D data the Z height can be represented by increasing the value of one RGB component.
• the method involves converting the surface plot into a new colour map, using the G (green) value of every pixel (in the case of this particular colour map) and assigning a depth (Z) to it as it varies over the range. That is, when G is 255 it has zero depth when G is 0 it has a depth defined by the user. So if we have G/2, we have Z/2 and so on. It is also possible to define the resolution in the colour map by using rounding functions to produce as many levels of depth as desired up to a maximum of 256.
• step size One final parameter needs to be considered before milling this pattern, which is the step size.
• the size of the bitmap image would ideally be scaled to be an integer multiple of the step size.
• Figure 16 shows a series of SEM micrographs of the milled pattern in Silicon. As can be seen, the original data has been reproduced but with the detail at the nanometre scale. In this example, we have also prevented the pattern from milling to the full depth by reducing the bitmap image width slightly, and have milled a frame around the structure for clarity in the SEM. It should be noted that the views in Figure 16 have been tilted with respect to the beam to show better the milled topography.
• Another preferred method, whether for a regular or a non-regular array, is to remove some of the required volume using a conventional etch technique and then produce the finished shape using the 3-D milling techniques taught herein. This would produce a roughed out array in parallel which can then be finished by sequential milling.
• An example of a combined conventional etch step followed by a 3-D milling stage is described below in connection with Figures 17 to 20. This example creates an array of parabolic dishes.
• the method includes the following primary steps: i) a conventional mask is produced for optical lithography. This mask would typically consist of circles and alignment marks; ii) the mask is then used to cure a resist which is used either as an etch-stop or for subsequent deposition of a metal film to be used as an etch-stop.
• the circular patterns form holes in the etch stop and are therefore exposing uncovered wafer material; iii) using for instance an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etcher, the holes etched through for a given time.
• ICP inductively coupled plasma
• Figure 17 shows an example of a simple mask 40 for producing an array of six roughed-out parabolic dishes 42.
• the mask is provided with a plurality of alignment marks 44.
• the mask is placed on a wafer substrate 46 to be treated, as shown in Figure 18.
• the alignment marks 44 are not shown in Figure 18.
• the wafer substrate 46 is etched in a conventional manner so as to produce an array of roughed out pits 48 corresponding to the apertures of the mask 40.
• Figure 20 shows a cross-sectional view in side elevation as well as a plan view of one of the pits 48 etched in the wafer substrate 40 with the dashed lines showing the desired final shape of the parabolic shaped structures.
• These structures are produced by milling the etched out pits by the methods disclosed herein. It will be appreciated that the subsequent milling steps will be controlled and carried out having regard to the extent of the pitting in the surface of the substrate, the latter being determined empirically or by measurement using, for instance, atomic force microscopy.
• the above-described etching method can also be extended to the use of multiple masks, grey-scale masks, to produce nested holes for the IPC etch.
• This crude stage can be used to remove more volume and reduce ion milling time further.
• a measure could be obtained, empirically or by measurement, of the size and shape of the pits produced in order to adjust the ion milling parameters in order to produce the final desired milled structure.
• the above described embodiments address the production of a three dimensional structure.
• the manufacture of such replicas for the production of three-dimensional structures formed of materials for which a milling rate cannot be reliably or easily determined.
• An example of such a material is metallic films. These are known to mill very non-uniformly due the random orientation of the individual grains in the film. The different orientations with respect to the ion beam results in very different milling rates for each grain orientation. Even when starting with a flat film and attempting to mill a flat bottom, the flatness very quickly deviates due to the grain orientation.
• Another example of a difficult material is a dielectric, where sample charging can lead to drift in the ion beam, resulting in errors in the final milled structure.
• a stamp or mould is pressed into a photoresist material such as PMMA deposited on a substrate.
• the mould and substrate are then cured by either a heating process or exposure to a particular wavelength of radiation. Once cured the mould is removed, leaving behind an imprint in the resist.
• This imprint can then be used as a further mould or stamp, or could be coated with a material that can in turn be released, leaving behind a surface of the originally milled master.
• Such a process could use either of the following steps.
• a negative master is made in a suitable material (for example, silicon), a positive replica is made of this, or alternately a positive is made in silicon and then a negative replica is made, finally a material is coated onto the negative and then released making a positive again in the material of choice.
• a suitable material for example, silicon
• a further example of the replica technique could be in making micro lenses in a suitably transparent material.
• a series of parabolic dishes could be milled in silicon and then a PMMA film (PMMA having excellent optical properties) of the correct thickness deposited over the substrate.
• the PMMA would then be cured by the application of heat and released from the substrate.
• the released PMMA film would then be made up of an array of lenses.
• the fabrication of very precise micrometer lenses and mirrors might find a wide range of uses in photonic applications such as optical computing, fraud prevention, or other photonic applications such as wave-guiding for optical communications with MEMs devices and computer chip to chip applications.
• photonic applications such as optical computing, fraud prevention, or other photonic applications such as wave-guiding for optical communications with MEMs devices and computer chip to chip applications.
• an array of off-axis mirrors is used to focus light from a single laser beam into multiple beams with well-defined foci that form a box capable of trapping individual atoms or ions.
• a similar array of off-axis mirrors could form the basis of an optical tweezers device.
• the teachings herein may also be used in the production of superlensing, that is in the production of an array (for example 10x10) of lenses either milled directly into glass (or similar) using the milling technique, or formed within a mould that is itself milled using the 3d milling technique taught herein.
• an array can be used in a far-field optical microscope capable of reaching nanometer-scale resolution.
• the lenses can work as a parabolically shaped dielectric layer for scattering light.

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