Remote chemical and elemental analysis by ultra fast spectroscopy

Systems and methods are provided for monitoring materials using ultra fast laser pulses. Ultra fast laser pulses, such as femtosecond or attosecond laser pulses, are applied to the materials and laser pulses that result from interactions between the ultra fast laser pulses and the materials are collected. Spectral content of the resulting pulses is generated and presented. The elemental composition of the materials is determined using the spectral content.

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

There is a growing need to perform non-contact metrology in processing silicon carbide (SiC) power metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). For example, the department of defense is currently moving towards platforms and weapons systems that explore electrical powers in innovative ways. To reach the envisioned capabilities in electric propulsion and weapons in a tactical configuration, advances are necessary in the solid state power electronics used to distribute, condition, and regulate the electrical powers.

For instance, the concept of electric warships depends on the ability to rapidly switch power to major loads to meet tactical needs. Current approaches for power distribution being considered for the next generation of carriers and destroyers employ 13.8 kV AC power that is stepped down to 450 V AC by using large (6 ton and 10 m3) 2.7 MVA transformers. The advanced power electronic components of interest under this effort should enable the realization of a solid state power substation (SSPS) that converts the distributed 13.8 kV AC power down to 450 V AC at the same total power level (2.7 MVA) as the current system with a reduction in size of 60% and reduction in weight of approximately 2.6 tons for a single 2.7 MVA transformer. To meet corresponding performance requirements, new wide band-gap semiconductor materials and devices, such as those based on SiC, are required.

Power switching devices and components fabricated from SiC offer a reduction in on-state resistance for high voltage components compared to silicon components. Furthermore, the SiC devices and components offer dramatically lower switching losses, allowing the use of higher frequency AC power; thereby enabling a reduction in the size and weight of passive components in a power conversion circuit. Finally, elevated junction temperature operating capacity up to at least 200 degree centigrade for SiC devices and components allows further reduction of the size of the cooling sub-system.

Under previously funded Department of Defense programs, critical SiC material metrics were demonstrated that have been deemed necessary to enable large area (i.e., 1 cm2), high total power device. In these efforts, small-area devices consistent with the goals of high-voltage switching have been demonstrated in limited quantity. However, these demonstrations have not been consistent with a robust device process and high total power handling capability. Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, for example, have been demonstrated to exhibit breakdown voltage in excess of 10 kV and specific on-resistance less than 0.15 ohm-cm2. However, issues of achieving high operating currents, stable threshold-voltages and proven reliability of MOS structures remain. Therefore, effort is needed to move beyond single device demonstrations and address manufacturing issues associated with improving the yield, performance, reliability, and cost of future high-power SiC based components. The traditional method used to monitor the quality of a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) stack involves at least three mask levels and several days of processing before providing the necessary feedback on the quality and functionality of the device being fabricated. Femtosecond laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (FLIBS) can be used to determine the elemental compositions of a MOSFET surface being fabricated, thereby monitoring the quality of the MOSFET surface. However, FLIBS analysis involves destroying a selected sample surface, such as MOSFET wafer. Capabilities of monitoring interfacial defects without damaging a surface involved, therefore, would advance the current state of the art.

SUMMARY

The present invention uses the wavelength spectrum in a femtosecond or attosecond laser pulse to perform remote non invasive analysis of surfaces, interfaces, clouds, chemical or biological warfare agents. The material to be analyzed is illuminated with the femtosecond attosecond laser pulses. The electromagnetic radiation transmitted, scattered, and/or reflected by the materials is analyzed for the spectral content after the interaction. The material property can be revealed by the spectral content after the illumination process. This will generally show up as a change in the amount of each spectral line that was contained in the pulse. The scattered and/or transmitted pulses are analyzed with a spectrum analyzer and an autocorrelator. The phase can also be used in an equivalent manner to reveal such things as chemical or elemental content.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for monitoring a surface using ultra fast laser pulses. Ultra fast laser pulses are applied on at least a portion of a surface. Laser pulses that are reflected from the surface are collected. Spectral content of the reflected laser pulses are then presented.

In another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the invention takes the form of a system for monitoring a surface using ultra fast laser pulses. The system includes a pulse generator and a pulse detector. The pulse generator is configured to generate ultra fast laser pulses and apply the ultra fast laser pulses on a surface. The pulse detector is configured to collect laser pulses that are reflected from the surface.

In yet another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the invention takes the form of a method for monitoring a surface using ultra fast laser pulses. Pump-probing technique is performed on a surface by varying the time delay between a pump beam and a probe beam, wherein the pump beam and the probe beam comprise one or more of a sample of femtosecond laser pulses and a sample of attosecond laser pulses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention permits monitoring a surface using ultra fast laser pulses. As a result, among other things, the current invention provides non-contact metrology and non-contact pump-probing techniques using ultra fast laser pulses such as femtosecond laser pulses and attosecond laser pulses.

As shown inFIG. 1, system environment100may include, among other components, an ultra fast pulse generator102, a pulse detector104, and a surface110to be analyzed. In some embodiments, the surface110is coated or covered with contaminants112. Pulse generator102may apply a pulse106to surface110and potentially contaminants112. After the photons interact with surface110and/or contaminants112, the resulting pulse108may be collected by pulse detector104for analysis.

As shown inFIG. 2, a further system environment200may include an ultra fast pulse generator202, one or more pulse detectors204, and materials214to be analyzed. Materials214may comprise clouds of chemical and/or biological compounds/agents. Pulse generator202may apply a pulse206to material214. After the photons interact with materials214, the resulting pulse216and/or scattered pulse208may be collected by one or more pulsed detector204for analysis.

FIG. 3shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for monitoring a surface using ultra fast pulses. In block302, the ultra fast pulse generator generates ultra fast pulses. In some embodiments, the ultra fast pulses are one or several femtosecond laser pulses. In some embodiments, the ultra fast pulses are attosecond pulses. In block304, the ultra fast pulses generated by the pulse generator are applied to the materials to be analyzed. In some embodiments, the materials to be analyzed may cover or coat the surface.

In block306, the pulse detector collects resulting reflected pulses, scattered/transmitted pulses, or any combination thereof. In block,308, the pulse detector generates spectral content of the resulting pulses. In some embodiments, the pulse detector may have an embedded module that generates the spectral content. In some embodiments, a spectral analyzer may be communicatively coupled to the pulse detector. In block310, the spectral content of the resulting pulses is displayed. In some embodiments, the spectral content of the resulting pulses are compared to original spectral content of pulses produced by the pulse generator.

In one embodiment, for example, a 9 femtosecond (fs) laser pulse having a spectral spread of about 125 nano-meters (nm) around a central frequency of 800 nm is used to monitor an interfacial surface, providing 125 nm of wavelengths all at one time illuminating from the same laser pulse. This improves one of the shortcomings of the prior art that it is usually done at only one wavelength. The surface is illuminated with the 9 fs laser pulse first and the reflected laser pulse is collected. The physical dimensions of a 9 fs pulse is 2.7 micrometer (μm). For instance, one may illuminate a surface of interest with a short pulse, such as femtosecond or attosecond laser pulse, and observe the change in the spectral components as the electrons in the matter are excited to various excitation states. Depending on the materials that are present on the surface, the resulting spectral lines of the reflected laser pulse will change as the electrons in the materials are excited to various excitation states.

FIG. 4shows a set of outcomes of non-contact metrology for evaluating the quality of silver mirrors using femtosecond laser pulses.FIG. 4contains three images, left image402, center image404, and right image406. The left image402is the autocorrelation trace of a typical 9-10 fs laser pulse. The center image404is spectral content of the pulse reflected from a high quality mirror. The right image406is spectral content of the pulse reflected from the same high quality mirror that has a thin dielectric coating on the surface of the mirror.

As can be seen from the center image404and the right image406, some of the spectral lines of the reflected laser pulse in the right image406have changed from the spectral lines of the reflected laser pulse in the center image404. The change in the spectral line content serves as a very sensitive method to monitor the surface of the mirror and the material components covering or making up the mirror surface. The same principle can be applied to silicon oxide (SiO2)/SiC manufacturing stages.

For example, attosecond laser pulses, which are available in high energy laser facilities, gives ability to build a much more sensitive metrology instrument that would be sensitive to any silicon and carbon dangling bonds, carbon clusters and oxygen vacancies at a surface, such as a MOSFET surface that is being fabricated, resulting in improving the manufacturing of the SiC MOSFETs for high power operations. The size of the spot being integrated can be several millimeters to as small as the diffraction limit of the focusing devices used to probe a sample surface. In fact, if one does not occasionally mind sacrificing a control sample, it is possible to perform femtosecond laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (FLIBS) of the MOSFET surfaces being fabricated and determine the elemental composition of the interface nano layer by nano layer.

FLIBS analysis is destructive as the damage spot made by the ablation process is about 0.5 to 1 μm in size. The depth is controlled by the power used in the ablation but can be a small as a few nanometers. This method is only being proposed as a method for real time quality control where a few samples can be sacrificed during the manufacturing process. However, the information that can be obtained by this technique may prove valuable in improving the manufacturing of the SiC MOSFETs for high power operation.

It is important to point out that only in the last couple of years with the emergence of broad band spectrometers such as the Ocean Optics HR 4000+ and Andor system containing an Echelle spectrometer grating now makes it possible to determine chemical structures.FIG. 5illustrates an example of the ability to distinguish some very similar but different chemical agents.

In some embodiments, pump-probing technique is performed using ultra fast femtosecond and attosecond laser pulses by varying the time delay between pump beam and probe beam in order to study the electron dynamics of the materials making up a surface or interfaces. For example, each interface layer of a MOSFET being fabricated can be analyzed. In one embodiment, the pump-probing technique is used to study the electron behavior in multilayered Co/Cu and Ag/Cu films. It can be demonstrated that the time dependent reflectivity of Cu films is due to the d-band transitions in Cu. This non-contact method is so sensitive that electronic transitions may be followed.FIG. 5illustrates the time dependent reflectivity of Cu.

Problems with SiO2/SiC interface result in part from the fact that carbon is a by-product of the oxidation process. The pump-probing technique combined with FLIBS analysis could provide more information about the exact nature of the oxidation processes, dangling bonds, and cluster information. Some interfacial defects have been speculated to include silicon and carbon dangling bonds, carbon clusters and oxygen vacancies at the interface. Interfacial passivation techniques involving annealing in NO and/or H2are currently used to lower the interface trap density (Dit) to levels around 1012/cm2-cV. Despite recent progress, major challenges to SiC power MOSFETs include further decreasing Ditincreasing channel mobility while maintaining positive (normally-off) threshold voltages, improving the gate oxide reliability and achieving high threshold-voltage stability. It would be interesting to use the ultra fast pulses to passivate the surfaces as each one is deposited as a means to alter the Ditconcentration. Non-contact methods definitely have the capacity to answer some of the questions about the interfaces and the types of defects produced during the manufacturing processes and to provide some good feedback control required to have high quality SiC MOSFETs for high power applications.

Expansion of the proposed non contract metrology studies can be envisioned with the new high energy laser facilities, such as one being built at the University of Nebraska. This laser facility will mean that researchers at the University of Nebraska will have at there discretion a wide range of other types of non-contact ultra fast probe beams to apply to the SiC studies. Some interesting ultra fast probe sources beyond the laser pulse itself include strong femtosecond pulsed X rays, pulsed high energy electron beams, pulsed proton beams, and neutrons.

In order to perform capacitance-voltage characteristics non-contact measurements, the samples will be illuminated with laser beam below the damage thresholds. This illumination will create the necessary high fields approaching 106volts/cm. The exact location of illumination may be on the back side of the wafer and the fields measured over various parts of the device using scanning probe microscope tips. The current and voltages picked up by the SPM tips will be monitored as a function of time after the laser has applied the localized high fields. Another way is to induce the electrons by means of the pulses generated from the high energy laser facility. Another way is to use energy specific tailored protons that will loose all of their energy at the end of their paths in specific SiC structures. The voltages and currents will be monitored using a SPM tip. The leakage currents characteristics will be available as a function of time after the laser pulse induced the current.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that ultra fast pulse spectroscopy may be used to investigate any type of material, and will further appreciate that the type of pulse used may be varied as appropriate and desirable for a given material or application. For example, particular wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, or particular types of pulsed particle beams, may be well suited to studying some materials or to study materials in some environments, while other types of pulses may be useful for other materials or in other environments. Such a varied use of ultra fast pulse spectroscopy does not depart from the scope of the present invention.