Variable density scanning
AssigneeAsylum Research Corporation
InventorsRoger B. Proksch, Roger C. Callahan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and techniques for varying a scan rate in a measurement instrument. The techniques may be used in scanning probe instruments, including atomic force microscopes (AFMs) and other scanning probe microscopes, as well as profilometers and confocal optical microscopes. This allows the selective imaging of particular regions of a sample surface for accurate measurement of critical dimensions within a relatively small data acquisition time.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- receiving information indicative of a position of a region of interest of a sample;
- and
- generating a scan waveform including a first waveform segment configured to obtain a first data density in the region of interest of the sample and a second waveform segment configured to obtain a second data density less than the first data density outside the region of interest of the sample.
An apparatus comprising:
- a measurement instrument including a portion configured to interact with a sample in operation;
- a sample holder configured to position the sample relative to the portion of the measurement instrument;
- and
- a controller configured to provide relative scanning between the measurement instrument and the sample holder, the controller configured to provide relative scanning in a first direction, wherein the relative scanning includes a first scan segment to obtain a first data density in a pre-determined sample region and a second scan segment to obtain a second different data density outside of the pre-determined sample region.
An article comprising a machine-readable medium embodying information indicative of instructions that when performed by one or more machines result in operations comprising:
- receiving information indicative of a region of interest of a sample;
- and
- determining a scan rate profile for relative scanning of a measurement instrument across the sample, wherein the scan rate profile includes a first scan rate segment associated with the region of interest and a second scan rate segment associated with a region of the sample not included in the region of interest, wherein the first scan rate segment is configured to implement relative scanning at a higher density than the second scan rate segment.
A method comprising:
- implementing relative scanning of a portion of a measurement instrument with respect to a sample surface, wherein the sample surface includes a first region and a second region, wherein implementing relative scanning of the portion of the measurement instrument relative to the sample surface includes implementing relative scanning according to a waveform having a first higher data density segment associated with relative scanning of the first region and a second lower data density segment associated with relative scanning of the second region;
- and
- receiving information indicative of one or more sample characteristics for the first region and the second region based on the relative scanning of the portion of the measurement instrument with respect to the sample surface.
A method comprising:
- receiving information indicative of a relative position of a first region and a second different region for a particular sample type;
- and
- generating information indicative of a scan waveform including a first data density waveform portion and a second data density waveform portion, wherein the scan waveform is configured to obtain a first higher data density in the first region using the first data density waveform portion and to obtain a higher different data density in the second region using the second data density waveform portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.