High-resolution picosecond acoustic microscopy for non-invasive characterization of buried interfaces

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1204-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shriram Ramanathan ◽  
David G. Cahill
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
Fundamental Limitations ◽  
Buried Interfaces ◽  
Advanced Packaging

Non-destructive investigation of buried interfaces at high-resolution is critical for integrated circuit and advanced packaging research and development. In this letter, we present a novel non-contact microscopy technique using ultrahigh frequency (GHz range) longitudinal acoustic pulses to form images of interfaces and layers buried deep inside a silicon device. This method overcomes fundamental limitations of conventional scanning acoustic microscopy by directly generating and detecting the acoustic waves on the surface of the sample using an ultrafast pump-probe optical technique. We demonstrate our method by imaging copper lines buried beneath a 6-μm silicon wafer; the lateral spatial resolution of 3 μm is limited by the laser spot size. In addition to the high lateral spatial resolution, the technique has picosecond (ps) time resolution and therefore will enable imaging individual interconnect layers in multi-layer stacked devices.

Non-invasive high-resolution acoustic microscopy technique using embedded nanostructures

2007 ◽  
Vol 1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Wulin ◽  
Shriram Ramanathan
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Biological Applications ◽  
Acoustic Oscillations ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
First Time

AbstractAn opto-acoustic system capable of operating at frequencies greater than 1 GHz with novel biological applications is proposed for the first time. Metallic spheres with radii on the order of hundreds of nanometers dispersed inside a bio-matrix can be used to generate in-situ ultra-high frequency acoustic waves whose normal mode frequencies can be calculated using Lamb's theory for acoustic oscillations of elastic spheres. The frequency and amplitude of the resulting acoustic waves can be related to the physical properties of the metallic spheres and the surrounding bio-matrix: the acoustic waves produced by the metallic spheres are well-suited to high resolution acoustic imaging. We anticipate that our approach will open up new nanoscale techniques to study cells non-invasively.

Quantitative Short-pulse Acoustic Microscopy and Application to Materials Characterization

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-67
Author(s):  
Theodore E. Matikas
Keyword(s):  
Elastic Property ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Short Pulse ◽  
Surface Acoustic Waves ◽  
Tone Burst ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
Setup Phase ◽  
Additional Reference

Abstract A new acoustic microscopy method was developed for providing near-surface elastic property mapping of a material. This method has a number of advantages over the traditional V(z) technique. First, it enables one to perform measurements in an automated mode that only requires user intervention in the setup phase. This automated mode makes it feasible to obtain quantitative microscopy images of the elastic property over an area on the material being tested. Also, it only requires a conventional ultrasonic system operating in pulsed mode for collecting the data, rather than a specialized tone-burst system, which is needed in the traditional quantitative scanning acoustic microscopy technique. Finally, unlike the traditional method, the new experimental process does not require calibration of the systems electronics or additional reference data taken under hard-to-duplicate identical conditions from a material that does not exhibit surface acoustic waves.

High-spatial-resolution sub-surface imaging using a laser-based acoustic microscopy technique

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwaseyi Balogun ◽  
Garrett D. Cole ◽  
Robert Huber ◽  
Diane Chinn ◽  
Todd W. Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Surface Imaging ◽  
Microscopy Technique

Remarks on the application of backscattered electron imaging (BEI) to the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of biological structures

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 484-487
Author(s):  
Etienne de Harven
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Incident Beam ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Primary Electron ◽  
Critical Point Drying ◽  
Cell Shapes ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
Backscattered Electron ◽  
Electron Imaging ◽  
Scanning Electron

Biological ultrastructures have been extensively studied with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the past 12 years mainly because this instrument offers accurate and reproducible high resolution images of cell shapes, provided the cells are dried in ways which will spare them the damage which would be caused by air drying. This can be achieved by several techniques among which the critical point drying technique of T. Anderson has been, by far, the most reproducibly successful. Many biologists, however, have been interpreting SEM micrographs in terms of an exclusive secondary electron imaging (SEI) process in which the resolution is primarily limited by the spot size of the primary incident beam. in fact, this is not the case since it appears that high resolution, even on uncoated samples, is probably compromised by the emission of secondary electrons of much more complex origin.When an incident primary electron beam interacts with the surface of most biological samples, a large percentage of the electrons penetrate below the surface of the exposed cells.

A High Resolution Scanning Microscope

1968 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 356-357
Author(s):  
A. V. Crewe ◽  
J. Wall ◽  
L. M. Welter
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Field Emission ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Focal Length ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Emission Source ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Scanning Microscope ◽  
Magnetic Lens ◽  
High Quality

A scanning microscope using a field emission source has been described elsewhere. This microscope has now been improved by replacing the single magnetic lens with a high quality lens of the type described by Ruska. This lens has a focal length of 1 mm and a spherical aberration coefficient of 0.5 mm. The final spot size, and therefore the microscope resolution, is limited by the aberration of this lens to about 6 Å.The lens has been constructed very carefully, maintaining a tolerance of + 1 μ on all critical surfaces. The gun is prealigned on the lens to form a compact unit. The only mechanical adjustments are those which control the specimen and the tip positions. The microscope can be used in two modes. With the lens off and the gun focused on the specimen, the resolution is 250 Å over an undistorted field of view of 2 mm. With the lens on,the resolution is 20 Å or better over a field of view of 40 microns. The magnification can be accurately varied by attenuating the raster current.

Characterization of RF Sputtered ZnO Piezoelectric Films Using Transmission Electron Microscope

1975 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 86-87
Author(s):  
Kemining W. Yeh ◽  
Richard S. Muller ◽  
Wei-Kuo Wu ◽  
Jack Washburn
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Surface Acoustic Waves ◽  
Electromechanical Properties ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Saw Devices ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
High Degree

Considerable and continuing interest has been shown in the thin film transducer fabrication for surface acoustic waves (SAW) in the past few years. Due to the high degree of miniaturization, compatibility with silicon integrated circuit technology, simplicity and ease of design, this new technology has played an important role in the design of new devices for communications and signal processing. Among the commonly used piezoelectric thin films, ZnO generally yields superior electromechanical properties and is expected to play a leading role in the development of SAW devices.

Acoustic microscopy techniques for the inspection of integrated circuit devices and packages

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 966-967
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Hybrid Technique ◽  
Frequency Scanning ◽  
Ic Packaging ◽  
Ic Package ◽  
Microscopy Techniques ◽  
Ic Package Inspection ◽  
Pulse Echo ◽  
Scanning Acoustic Microscope

In the last decade, a variety of characterization techniques based on acoustic phenomena have come into widespread use. Characteristics of matter waves such as their ability to penetrate optically opaque solids and produce image contrast based on acoustic impedance differences have made these techniques attractive to semiconductor and integrated circuit (IC) packaging researchers.These techniques can be divided into two groups. The first group includes techniques primarily applied to IC package inspection which take advantage of the ability of ultrasound to penetrate deeply and nondestructively through optically opaque solids. C-mode Acoustic Microscopy (C-AM) is a recently developed hybrid technique which combines the narrow-band pulse-echo piezotransducers of conventional C-scan recording with the precision scanning and sophisticated signal analysis capabilities normally associated with the high frequency Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM). A single piezotransducer is scanned over the sample and both transmits acoustic pulses into the sample and receives acoustic echo signals from the sample.

Microspectroscopy Using a Solid Immersion Lens

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 148-149
Author(s):  
C.D. Poweleit ◽  
J Menéndez
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Focal Plane ◽  
Numerical Aperture ◽  
Normal Incidence ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Index Of Refraction ◽  
Objective Lens ◽  
Improvement Factor ◽  
Oil Immersion ◽  
Long Time

Oil immersion lenses have been used in optical microscopy for a long time. The light’s wavelength is decreased by the oil’s index of refraction n and this reduces the minimum spot size. Additionally, the oil medium allows a larger collection angle, thereby increasing the numerical aperture. The SIL is based on the same principle, but offers more flexibility because the higher index material is solid. in particular, SILs can be deployed in cryogenic environments. Using a hemispherical glass the spatial resolution is improved by a factor n with respect to the resolution obtained with the microscope’s objective lens alone. The improvement factor is equal to n2 for truncated spheres.As shown in Fig. 1, the hemisphere SIL is in contact with the sample and does not affect the position of the focal plane. The focused rays from the objective strike the lens at normal incidence, so that no refraction takes place.

Mapping and Monitoring of the Land Use/Cover Changes in the Wider Area of ltanos, Crete, Using Very High Resolution EO Imagery With Specific Interest in Archaeological Sites

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawyer Reid stippa ◽  
George Petropoulos ◽  
Leonidas Toulios ◽  
Prashant K. Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Satellite Images ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Digital Photography ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Large Area ◽  
High Resolution Imagery ◽  
Site Mapping ◽  
Rule Sets

Archaeological site mapping is important for both understanding the history as well as protecting them from excavation during the developmental activities. As archaeological sites generally spread over a large area, use of high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery is becoming increasingly applicable in the world. The main objective of this study was to map the land cover of the Itanos area of Crete and of its changes, with specific focus on the detection of the landscape’s archaeological features. Six satellite images were acquired from the Pleiades and WorldView-2 satellites over a period of 3 years. In addition, digital photography of two known archaeological sites was used for validation. An Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) classification was subsequently developed using the five acquired satellite images. Two rule-sets were created, one using the standard four bands which both satellites have and another for the two WorldView-2 images their four extra bands included. Validation of the thematic maps produced from the classification scenarios confirmed a difference in accuracy amongst the five images. Comparing the results of a 4-band rule-set versus the 8-band showed a slight increase in classification accuracy using extra bands. The resultant classifications showed a good level of accuracy exceeding 70%. Yet, separating the archaeological sites from the open spaces with little or no vegetation proved challenging. This was mainly due to the high spectral similarity between rocks and the archaeological ruins. The satellite data spatial resolution allowed for the accuracy in defining larger archaeological sites, but still was a difficulty in distinguishing smaller areas of interest. The digital photography data provided a very good 3D representation for the archaeological sites, assisting as well in validating the satellite-derived classification maps. All in all, our study provided further evidence that use of high resolution imagery may allow for archaeological sites to be located, but only where they are of a suitable size archaeological features.

Backside Application of Acoustic Micro Imaging (AMI) on Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) and Plastic Quad Flat Pack (PQFP) Packages

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis A. Curiel ◽  
Andrew J. Komrowski ◽  
Daniel J.D. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Ball Grid Array ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Electronic Packages ◽  
Nondestructive Technique ◽  
Molding Compound ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
Plastic Ball ◽  
Die Surface ◽  
Plastic Ball Grid Array ◽  
Bond Pads

Abstract Acoustic Micro Imaging (AMI) is an established nondestructive technique for evaluation of electronic packages. Non-destructive evaluation of electronic packages is often a critical first step in the Failure Analysis (FA) process of semiconductor devices [1]. The molding compound to die surface interface of the Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) and Plastic Quad Flat Pack (PQFP) packages is an important interface to acquire for the FA process. Occasionally, with these packages, the standard acoustic microscopy technique fails to identify defects at the molding compound to die surface interface. The hard to identify defects are found at the edge of the die next to the bond pads or under the bonds wires. This paper will present a technique, Backside Acoustic Micro Imaging (BAMI) analysis, which can better resolve the molding compound to die surface interface at the die edge by sending the acoustic signal through the backside of the PBGA and PQFP packages.

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