Cantilever set for atomic force microscopes, substrate surface inspection apparatus including the same, method of analyzing surface of semiconductor substrate by using the same, and method of forming micropattern by using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10352964-B2
Application number	US-201715415034-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2017
Priority date	Jan 26, 2016
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

A method of forming a micropattern, a substrate surface inspection apparatus, a cantilever set for an atomic force microscope, and a method of analyzing a surface of a semiconductor substrate, and a probe tip the method including forming pinning patterns on a semiconductor substrate; forming a neutral pattern layer in spaces between the pinning patterns; and inspecting a surface of a guide layer that includes the pinning patterns and the neutral pattern layer by using an atomic force microscope (AFM).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate surface inspection apparatus, comprising:
a supporter capable of accommodating a substrate;
a measurement unit having a cantilever and a probe tip, the probe tip being at an end of the cantilever, the probe tip being capable of contacting the substrate, and the probe tip including a probe tip base having an apex surface thereof modified with a polymer;
a driving unit capable of changing relative positions of the substrate and the probe tip;
a light source unit capable of irradiating light onto the cantilever;
a sensor capable of obtaining information of a surface of the substrate from light reflected by the cantilever; and
a determination unit determining whether the surface of the substrate is normal from the information of the surface of the substrate sensed by sensor,
wherein:
the polymer is bonded to the probe tip base via an intervening linker, and the linker is connected to the polymer by an ester group or an ether group, or
the polymer is a di-block copolymer, and a block of the di-block copolymer at a bonding side to the probe tip has a constant length, or
the polymer includes two homopolymers bonded to the probe tip, a first homopolymer being hydrophilic, the first homopolymer being one of the two homopolymers, and a second homopolymer being hydrophobic, the second homopolymer being the other one of the two homopolymers.

2. The substrate surface inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the determination unit is configured to calculate a work of adhesion between the surface of the substrate and the probe tip and to determine whether the surface of the substrate is normal by comparing the obtained work of adhesion with a reference value.

3. The substrate surface inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein:
the work of adhesion is calculated from a surface energy between the surface of the substrate and the probe tip, and
the surface energy is determined by an interaction between the probe tip and the surface of the substrate.

4. The substrate surface inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the substrate is a semiconductor substrate having pinning patterns and a neutral pattern layer on a surface thereof.

5. The substrate surface inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the polymer includes one of polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, poly(ethylene oxide), polydimethylsiloxane, poly(4-vinylpyridine), poly(2-vinylpyridine), poly(lactic acid), polyisoprene, and PS-r-PMMA.

6. A cantilever set for an atomic force microscope (AFM), the cantilever set comprising:
a supporting frame;
a cantilever fixed to the supporting frame; and
a probe tip provided to an end of the cantilever, the probe tip including a probe tip base having an apex surface thereof that is at least partially modified with a polymer,
wherein:
the polymer is bonded to the probe tip base via an intervening linker, and the linker is connected to the polymer by an ester group or an ether group, or
the polymer is a di-block copolymer, and a block of the di-block copolymer at a bonding side to the probe tip has a constant length, or
the polymer includes two homopolymers bonded to the probe tip, a first homopolymer being hydrophilic, the first homopolymer being one of the two homopolymers, and a second homopolymer being hydrophobic, the second homopolymer being the other one of the two homopolymers.

7. A probe tip for an atomic force microscope (AFM), the probe tip comprising:
a probe tip base; and
a polymer on at least a part of a surface of the probe tip base,
wherein:
the polymer is bonded to the probe tip base via an intervening linker, and the linker is connected to the polymer by an ester group or an ether group, or
the polymer is a di-block copolymer, and a block of the di-block copolymer at a bonding side to the probe tip has a constant length, or
the polymer includes two homopolymers bonded to the probe tip, a first homopolymer being hydrophilic, the first homopolymer being one of the two homopolymers, and a second homopolymer being hydrophobic, the second homopolymer being the other one of the two homopolymers.

8. The probe tip as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the probe tip is modified by at least partially coating the polymer onto the probe tip.

9. The probe tip as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the probe tip is bonded to the polymer by a covalent bond.

10. The probe tip as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the polymer includes one of polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, poly(ethylene oxide), polydimethylsiloxane, poly(4-vinylpyridine), poly(2-vinylpyridine), poly(lactic acid), polyisoprene, and PS-r-PMMA.

11. A method of forming a micropattern, the method comprising:
forming pinning patterns on a semiconductor substrate;
forming a neutral pattern layer in spaces between the pinning patterns; and
inspecting a surface of a guide layer that includes the pinning patterns and the neutral pattern layer by using an atomic force microscope (AFM), wherein:
the AFM includes:
the probe tip as claimed in claim 7 , the polymer on the at least a part of probe tip contacting the guide layer during inspecting of the surface of the guide layer, and
a cantilever supporting the probe tip.

12. A substrate surface inspection apparatus, comprising:
a supporter for accommodating a substrate;
a measurement unit having a cantilever and the probe tip as claimed in claim 7 , the probe tip being at an end of the cantilever and being capable of contacting the substrate;
a driving unit for changing relative positions of the substrate and the probe tip;
a light source unit for irradiating light onto the cantilever;
a sensor for obtaining information of a surface of the substrate from light reflected by the cantilever; and
a determination unit for determining whether the surface of the substrate is normal from the information of the surface of the substrate sensed by sensor.

13. A cantilever set for an atomic force microscope (AFM), the cantilever set comprising:
a supporting frame;
a cantilever fixed to the supporting frame; and
the probe tip as claimed in claim 7 at an end of the cantilever.

14. A method of analyzing a surface of a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate having pinning patterns and a neutral pattern layer on the semiconductor substrate;
scanning the pinning patterns or the neutral pattern layer by using the probe tip as claimed in claim 7 ; and
measuring a work of adhesion between the probe tip and the scanned pinning patterns or the scanned neutral pattern layer.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Korea Advanced Inst Sci & Tech

Inventors

• LEE Kyeong-Mi
• Park Jeong-Ju
• Yi Shi-Yong
• Kim Eun-Sung
• Kwon Seung-Chul
• Kim Sang-Ouk
• Choi Young-Joo

Classifications

• H10P72/0616

  Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like · CPC title

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• G01Q60/42

  Functionalisation · CPC title

• H01L21/67288

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01Q60/28 Primary

  Adhesion force microscopy · CPC title