Inspection of a micro-cantilever's opened and concealed profile using integrated vertical scanning interferometry

In this paper, we describe a method based on the proposed vertical scanning interferometry (VSI) for the measurement of both surface profile of the micro-cantilever and corresponding etching sacrificial layer beneath the cantilever by only one scanning. A white light source illuminates a micro-cantilever at a certain incident angle through a Mirau interference objective. With this arrangement the top surface of the cantilever and a normally obstructed surface profile beneath the cantilever can be assessed in the same system. A digital filtering technique based on Fourier transform and a Gaussian fit are implemented to simultaneously retrieve an envelope of two series of interferograms at the top surface of a cantilever and as well as area of interest underneath the cantilever. The retrieved envelope peaks, which represent the height information of points on the test surface, are plotted to show whole field surface contour and demonstrate its effectiveness as a means for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) dual/multi-layer inspection. Results obtained agree well with those of a commercial instrument and show that the proposed method is simple and accurate.