Methodology of adhesive energy for photomask fabrication using scanning probe microscopy - art. no. 660728

A scanning probe microscopy is applied to measure high adhesive energy between Cr or MoSi patterns and quartz substrates by using probes with high stiffness cantilevers. Line patterns with the widths of similar to 100 nm are peeled from the interface by strain energy stored in the probe, and no residue was observed after peeling. The strain amount has good linear relationship with sensor outputs, and is quantified as a displacement of cantilevers. As a measurement result, adhesive energy of MoSi patterns on the substrate is larger than that of Cr patterns. In addition, adhesive energy of line patterns is sensitive to the pattern width which is parallel side to scan direction, and decreases with pattern width reduction. The method is effective to measure strong adhesion, like chemical bonds, of micro patterns, and will contribute process development for micro fabrication in photomask and wafer fields.