Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We request funding to purchase an optical profilometer system which allows static and dynamic 3D topology measurement of a surface, a microstructure, or a microsystem.  The tool uses interferometry and image processing algorithms to quantify a surface topology, with a vertical resolution of <0.1nm and lateral resolution down to 0.17 ?m.  It can provide an instantaneous XYZ topology measurement of a microstructure over large areas, even for high aspect ratio trenches and near sharp edges, without contact or damage to the sample.  This non-destructive approach does not require sample preparation, hence is can easily be used as a metrology tool during process development and device fabrication.  In addition, the very quick measurement capability allows the metrology of devices in motion, providing amplitude, modes and natural frequencies of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and microstructures, like no other tool can provide. The tool will be used by researchers in the Center for Nanofabrication and Nanocharacterization (CRN2), Center for Research in Energy, Plasma, and Electrochemistry (CREPE), Microengineering Laboratory for MEMS, Laser Micromachining Laboratory at U. Sherbrooke.  The range of research projects that will directly benefit from access to this tool is very broad, and includes: microelectromechanical systems, nanoelectronics and photonics, combinatorial chemistry using plasma processes, laser micromachining, active control and structural health monitoring, among others. The optical profilometer will be housed in the CRN2, which are well established shared facilities open to all academic and industrial users interested, with training and maintenance by a full-time staff. It will be an essential learning tool as it allows students to see their microstructures and materials, which provides unprecedented insight and understanding of the processes used to form the materials or make the microstructure, or the behavior microsystems.