Imago® Scientific Instruments Corp. announced today that its LEAP 3000X™ atom probe microscope is a recipient of the prestigious R&D100 award for 2006. A panel of industry experts appointed by Research and Development magazine announced the LEAP® system’s award “…as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year.
Atom probe tomography (APT) has emerged in recent years as an important metrology tool for materials analysis and semiconductor-device engineering. Imago revolutionized APT with its breakthrough LEAP technology, which offers practical, rapid analysis in 3D of materials such as metals and data storage devices with near-atomic resolution. This year’s addition of the laser pulse operating mode to the LEAP enables analysis of semiconductor-device structures, which have been defined as critical-path requirements in Sematech’s International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS).
This is the second occasion in three years that Imago’s LEAP microscope has been selected for the R&D100 award, repeating in 2006 its previous award from 2004. Imago won the 2004 award as it revolutionized the study of metallic alloys with its ability to measure atomic-level clusters and precipitates which determine mechanical properties such as hardness and temperature stability. The 2006 award arises from the LEAP’s new laser pulsed ionization mode, which enables analysis of next-generation semiconductor devices for features such as dopant distribution, ultra-shallow junctions, high-k dielectrics, and buried interface layers.
The LEAP 3000X fills a critical need in the semiconductor design roadmap on the way to 65-nm and 45-nm device structures,” said Dr. Tim Stultz, President and CEO of Imago. “We have demonstrated unique analysis capabilities beyond that of any existing technique.