Veeco's Dektak Surface Profiler Line Reaches 30th Anniversary

The Dektak surface profiler, introduced in December 1968, reached its 30th anniversary this year. Since its launch, over 7,500 Dektak surface profilers have been installed worldwide to measure step heights, surface texture, and planarity. The devices are used in the semiconductor, data storage and flat-panel display industries.

The Dektak stylus-based surface profiler was first introduced by Sloan Technology Corp., which is now part of the Veeco Metrology Group (Santa Barbara, CA). It was originally developed for microelectronic applications to precisely measure film thickness after deposition and processing.

Using a very fine diamond-tipped stylus with extremely light stylus forces, the system scans across thin-film steps while precisely measuring the vertical movement of the stylus. The analog signal is then plotted on a chart recorder as a profile of the sample surface. Using this method, the Dektak is able to quickly and accurately measure thin-film surface features.

Today, a wide range of Dektak surface profilers is available. These range from the dependable Dektak 3 models for R&D applications to the fully automated Dektak series V systems for monitoring semiconductor production processes on wafers up to 300 mm. With the improvements came a cost increase: Dektak products originally sold for under $7,000; a completely automated surface profiling workstation now sells for over $250,000.

Veeco Metrology Group is a division of Veeco Instruments Inc. (Plainview, NY), a worldwide leader in metrology tools used in the data storage, semiconductor, and industrial/research markets. Veeco also makes etch and deposition process equipment for data storage.

For more information, call 805-967-1400.