Local Cross-sectional Profiling of Multilayer Thin Films with an Atomic Force Microscope for Layer Thickness Determination

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Abstract
A new essentially nondestructive cross-sectional method is described for measuring the individual thicknesses of multilayer YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) and SrTiO3 (STO) thin films using off-axis ion milling and the atomic force microscope (AFM). Since the ion-milling is done during routine patterning of a thin-film device and the AFM requires only a small area for imaging, no additional sample preparation is required. This is a significant improvement over traditional cross-sectional techniques which often require lengthy and destructive sample preparation. Also, there is no a priori reason that this technique would not be amenable to other multilayer thin-film systems.