An experimental study was conducted on the optimal configuration and size of ADFL(Aerodynamic Focusing Lens) which used in modified ISPM(In-Situ Particle Monitoring). The particle counting efficiency has been known as a function of distance and size of ADFL, thus we varied these parameters to find out the optimum values. From a result of experiment, it was found that two lenses and 6mm space between them showed a maximum particle measuring efficiency. To apply this modified ISPM to semiconductor manufacturing field, we need more experiment about the pressure change, flow rate, and input particle size.

Microcircuit fabrication requires precise control of impurities in tiny regions of the silicon. These regions must be interconnected to create components and VLSI circuits. The patterns to define such regions are created by lithographic processes. In order to image features smaller than 70 nm, it is necessary to employ non-optical technology (or next generation lithography: NGL). One such NGL is extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL). EUVL transmits the pattern on the wafer surface after reflecting ultra-violet through mask pattern. If particles exist on the blank mask, it can't transmit the accurate pattern on the wafer and decrease the reflectivity. It is important to care the blank mask. We removed the particles on the wafer using focused ion beam (FIB). During removal, FIB beam caused damage the multi layer mask and it decreased the reflectivity. The relationship between particle removal and reflectivity is examined: i) transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation after particle removal, ii) reflectivity simulation. It is found that the image mode of FIB is more effective for particle removal than spot and bar mode.

Scales, accumulated on some parts of semiconductor equipments such as sputters and CVD during the device fabrication processes, often lower the lifetime of the equipments and production yields. Thus, many equipment parts have be cleaned regularly. In this study, an attempt to establish an effective process to remove scales on the sidewall of collimators located inside the chamber of the sputter was made. The EDX analysis revealed that the scales were composed of Ti and TiN with the columnar structure. Through the trial-and-error experiments, it was found that the etching in the $HNO_3$:$H_2SO_4$:$H_2O$=4:2:4 solution for 5.5 hrs at $67^{\circ}C$, after the oxide removal in the HF solution, and the heat-treatment at $700^{\circ}C$ for 1 min., was the most effective process for the scale removal.

Aluminum nitride(AlN) thin films were deposited on silicon substrate by reactive RF magnetron sputtering without substrate heating. We investigated the dependence of some properties for AlN thin film on sputtering conditions such as working pressure, $N_2$ concentration and RF power. XRD, Ellipsometer and AES has been measured to find out structural properties and preferred orientation of AlN thin films. Deposition rate of AlN thin film was increased with an increase of RF power and decreased with an increase of $N_2$ concentration. AES in-depth measurements showed that stoichiometry of Aluminium and Nitrogen elements were not affected by $N_2$ concentration. It has shown that low working pressure, low $N_2$ concentration and high RF power should be maintained to deposit AlN thin film with a high degree of (0002) preferred orientation.

Thin film is one of the most general structures used in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). To measure the mechanical properties of SU-8 film, tensile testing was adopted which offers not only elastic modulus but also yield strength and plastic deformation by load-displacement curve. Tensile testing system was constructed with linear guided servo motor for actuation, load cell for force measurement and dual microscope for strain measurement.

This paper is concerned with development of a micro tensile testing machine for optical functional materials such as single or poly crystal silicon and nickel film. Two micro tensile testers have been developed for various types of materials and dimensions. One of the testers is actuated by a PZT and the other is actuated by a servo motor for a precise displacement control. The specifications of PZT actuated micro tensile tester developed are as follows: the volumetric size of tester is desktop sized of 710$\times$200$\times$270 $mm^3$; the minimum load capacity and the load resolution in the load cell of 1N are 3 mN and 0.1 mN respectively; the full stroke and the stoke resolution of piezoelectric actuator are 1 mm and 10nm respectively. A special automatic specimen installing equipment is applied in order to prevent unexpected deformation and misalignment of specimens during handling of specimen for testing.

The total relaxed stress in annealing and the thermal strain/stress were obtained from the identification of the residual stress-free state using electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). The residual stress fields in case of both single and film / substrate systems were modeled using the thermo-elastic theory and the relationship between relaxed stresses and displacements. We mapped the surface residual stress fields on the indented bulk Cu and the 0.5 $\mu\textrm{m}$ Au film by ESPI. In indented Cu, the normal and shear residual stress are distributed over -1.7 GPa to 700 MPa and -800 GPa to 600 MPa respectively around the indented point and in deposited Au film on Si wafer, the tensile residual stress is uniformly distributed on the Au film from 500 MPa to 800 MPa. Also we measured the residual stress by the x-ray diffractometer (XRD) for the verification of above residual stress results by ESPI...

This paper proposes a robust discrete time Kalman filter (RDKF) for the dynamic compensation of nonlinearity in a homodyne laser interferometer for high-precision displacement measurement and in real-time. The interferometer system is modeled to reduce the calculation of the estimator. A regulator is applied to improve the robustness of the system. An estimator based on dynamic modeling and a zero regulator of the system was designed by the authors of this study. For real measurement, the experimental results show that the proposed interferometer system can be applied to high precision displacement measurement in real-time.