Patent ID: 7205237

Claim:
Apparatus for exposure and probing of features in a semiconductor workpiece, comprising: a concentrator comprising a shell with a hollow interior space for covering a portion of a said workpiece below said hollow interior space, with an aperture there through, and with a gas conduit connected to said hollow interior space; gas supply means for supplying etchant gas into said hollow interior space within said concentrator through said gas conduit; a stage for supporting and positioning a said semiconductor workpiece in a series of positions; control means for moving said stage and a said semiconductor workpiece to said series of positions sequentially; said stage being located below said concentrator with said concentrator being positioned immediately above a location in proximity to said surface of said semiconductor workpiece for containing etchant gas above a surface of said semiconductor workpiece in said series of positions; an energy beam source for directing a focused energy beam through said aperture into said interior space onto a region on said surface of a said semiconductor workpiece located below said aperture in the presence of a said etchant gas; and said control means being adapted to move said stage to a series of positions with respect to said concentrator and said energy beam to expose a series of regions on said on said surface, sequentially, of a said semiconductor workpiece positioned below said hollow interior space of said concentrator to said energy beam in the presence of said etchant gas.