[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 156 (Wednesday, August 13, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43319-43320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-21336]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Announcement of an Opportunity To Join a Cooperative Research and 
Development Consortium Concerning Scanning Capacitance Microscopy 
Image-to-Dopant Profile Software and Metrology Techniques

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
invites interested parties to attend a meeting on August 20, 1997, to 
discuss setting up a cooperative research consortium. The goal of the 
consortium is to develop a user friendly, personal-computer-based 
program for converting scanning capacitance microscopy images to 2-D 
dopant profiles.
    The program will be within the scope and confines of The Federal 
Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-502, 15 U.S.C. 3710a), 
which provides federal laboratories including NIST, with the authority 
to enter into cooperative research agreements with qualified parties. 
Under this law, NIST may contribute personnel, equipment, and

[[Page 43320]]

facilities--but no funds--to the cooperative research program.
    Members will be expected to make a contribution to the consortium's 
efforts in the form of personnel, data, and/or funds. This is not a 
grant program.

DATES: The meeting will take place on August 20, 1997. Interested 
parties should contact NIST to confirm their interest at the address, 
telephone number or FAX number shown below.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place at and inquiries should be sent 
to Room A305, Building 225, National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joseph J. Kopanski, Telephone: 301-975-2089; FAX: 301-948-4081.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Scanning Capacitance Microscopy has moved 
steadily from a research topic to an existing metrology tool in support 
of semiconductor fabrication lines. Because SCM is sensitive to 
variations in dopant density it has promise as a quantitative dopant 
profiling tool. At NIST, an experimental SCM has been constructed and 
its performance under controlled operating conditions quantified. Using 
various techniques, NIST can now extract quantitative dopant profiles 
from SCM images. The challenge is to move SCM from a qualitative 
imaging technique to a quantitative dopant profiling tool meeting the 
goals for dopant profiling expressed in the SIA roadmap. A key step to 
meeting this challenge will be to measure and convert to dopant 
profiles a variety of real industrial samples and, therefore, validate 
the NIST approach and models used to convert images to profiles. 
Through this consortium we hope to gain access to samples of interest 
to industrial users of SCM. By cross checking against other 
measurements of dopant profiles, we can also determine the range of 
valid sample preparation and operating conditions and the measurable 
parameters which describe those conditions. The result will be a user 
friendly, personal-computer-based program for converting SCM images to 
2-D dopant profiles.

    Dated: August 5, 1997.
Elaine Bunten-Mines,
Director, Program Office.
[FR Doc. 97-21336 Filed 8-12-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-M