| The CIPTech MRAM/MJT metrology tool |
| The CIPTech determines the critically important tunneling resistance and magneto-resistance (RA & MR) directly on blanket magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stacks for MRAM and magnetic recording read head applications.
The CIPTech offers radical cost and time-savings over previous techniques that required patterning of MTJ devices prior to test. Measurements that used to require weeks of sample preparation can now be performed within minutes.
CIPTech features:
- Measures MR & RA on blanket MTJ films; no device patterning required.
- Automatically extracts MR & RA within minutes.
- Works in MRAM and Read Head relevant regimes.
- Performs non-destructive probing.
The tool combines IBM and Infineon Technologies proprietary Current In-Plane Tunneling (CIPT) technology licensed from IBM and Infineon Technologies with CAPRES multi-point micro-probing methods. CIPT is used to process data obtained from a multi-point measurement made with a CAPRES 12-point probe, enabling MR & RA to be determined directly on blanket films.
Data Sheet: CIPTech datasheet.pdf
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| M4PP chip (10 micron electrode pitch) on ceramic carrier substrate |
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The microscopic four-point probes, M4PP's, have an electrode pitch three orders of magnitude smaller than conventional four-point probes, and are fabricated using silicon micro-fabrication technology. CAPRES offers probes with an electrode pitch of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 microns.
The probes are designed for micro-scale electrical characterizations of materials, and are ideal for quality control in the semiconductor and thin-film industries. They can also be used for research, for example to image the electrical conductivity in single grains or domains in polycrystalline materials. For example, the probes are currently used to investigate micro-scale changes in electrical transport due to changes in surface reconstruction on clean silicon in UHV. This work is part of a collaboration between MIC and the department of physics at the University of Tokyo, Japan.
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