Full Metrology Solutions for Advanced RF with Picosecond Ultrasonic Metrology

Picosecond Ultrasonics (PULSE™ Technology) [1] has been widely used in thin metal film metrology because of its unique advantages, such as being a rapid, non-contact, non-destructive technology and its capabilities for simultaneous multiple layer measurement. Measuring velocity and thickness simultaneously for transparent and semi-transparent films offers a lot of potential for not only monitoring process but offers insight into the device performance. In this paper, we show Picosecond Ultrasonics provides a complete metrology solution in advanced radio frequency (RF) applications. This includes measurement of various thin metal films for wide thickness ranges with extremely excellent repeatability which could meet stringent process control requirements, simultaneous multilayer measurement capability, and simultaneous measurement of sound velocity and thickness for piezoelectric films which play a key role in the performance of RF devices.