Chapter 8.21
Reichert Microscope
(reichert)
1.0
Title
Reichert Microscope
2.0
Purpose
This Reichert-Jung Polylite
microscope is capable of reflection microscopy (illumination through the
objective) as well as transmission microscopy (illumination from the underside
through a glass stage plate), and many filtering options. For capturing microscope images, the Reichert
is equipped with a color video camera connected to a desktop PC at the
workstation.
The workstation is also equipped with
a second video camera, which is not attached to the microscope. This camera is infrared-sensitive and is
paired with an infrared source (heat lamp), allowing for IR imaging through
silicon wafers at low magnification.
This IR video camera is completely separate from the microscope, but
uses the same PC, video card and software as the microscope camera.
3.0
Scope
This document covers the use of the Reichert microscope
workstation (including reflective and transmissive
illumination), image capture with the color video camera and EPIX XCAP
software, and through-wafer imaging with the IR video camera. Methods of microscopy are beyond the scope of
this document. Some of the filtering
options available for this microscope are not discussed in this document.
4.0
Applicable
Documents
Please
consult a textbook on microscopy for more information on the optimal use of the
capabilities of this microscope.
5.0
Definitions &
Process Terminology
Stage: Area of the microscope on which sits the
object to be inspected, and which generally can be moved in the horizontal
directions for inspection and in the vertical direction for focus. This microscope is equipped with a stage
specially made with a chuck for handling wafers, which can be rotated in the horizontal
plane.
Object: The thing, which is being inspected with the
microscope.
Objective Lens: The lens or lens assembly, which is closest
to the object under scrutiny. This
microscope has a set of six objective lenses on one rotating head.
Eyepiece: The lens or lens assembly, which is closest
to the eye of the user.
Binoculars: An assembly of two eyepieces for simultaneous
use.
Image splitter: A device, which changes the optical path,
directing the image to either one of two endpoints, or both simultaneously. In the case of this microscope, the endpoints
are the binoculars and the color video camera.
Filter: A device usually consisting of one or more
coated surfaces, which changes the properties of the light passing through it,
such as polarization or spectrum.
Illuminator: The imaging light source of the microscope.
Reflection
Microscopy: Imaging with a microscope
using light reflected from the top surface of an object.
Transmission
Microscopy: Imaging with a microscope
using light transmitted through the object from below the stage.
6.0
Safety
This tool generally incurs little hazard when used properly, but
there are some safety concerns for the user to note.
6.1
Pinch hazard: The six objective lenses are mounted on a motorized
rotating head, which moves quickly.
There is a pinch hazard between the objective lenses and the stage. Keep hands away from the stage when the
objective lens head is in motion.
6.2
Lens Crash: The six objective lenses are each of
different length. Do not assume that
because one objective lens is a safe distance away from the object under
scrutiny, that any of the others will be if they are rotated into position. The objective lenses are rotated mechanically
and if they make contact with the object, then either the lens or the object
may be damaged. It is recommended that
before changing the objective lens, the stage be lowered or moved horizontally
to put a safe distance between the lenses and the object.
6.3
Hot Lamps: The illuminator lamp of the microscope, and
its housing, and the infrared source lamp for the IR video camera may be
hot. Use caution when working around
them.
6.4
Electrical/mechanical: This microscope has hazardous electrical and mechanical
components, and they are not user-serviceable.
Please do not try to fix problems with the microscope or the cameras.
Alert staff to problems by creating a Faults report on the Wand.
6.5
Unattached Wafer Chuck Stage: The wafer chuck is not permanently affixed to
the metal stage, it simply sits on top of the
stage. When replacing the wafer chuck
stage with the glass stage to perform transmission microscopy, take care to
prevent dropping the wafer chuck off the stage.
7.0
Statistical/Process
Data
N/A
8.0
Available
Processes
8.1 Binocular
microscopy with 10x and 15x eyepieces, and objectives at 2x, 5x, 10x, 50x,
100x, and 150x.
8.2 Reflection
microscopy with topside illumination onto the wafer chuck
stage.
8.3 Interchangeable
optical path modules are available (BF, POL MET, DF, B1 MET, and U1).
8.4 Transmission
microscopy with bottom side illumination through the glass plate stage.
8.5 Microscope image
capture with color video camera and desktop computer with imaging software.
8.6 Through-wafer
imaging (non-microscopic) with infrared light source, infrared video camera,
and image capture software. Commonly
used for wafer-to-wafer fusion bond inspection.
8.7 USB plug-and-play
ports for portable memory devices.
9.0
Operating
Procedure
9.1
Starting
up
9.1.1
Enable reichert on the
Wand.
9.1.2
Log in to the PC at the reichert
workstation if it is not already logged in (showing the Windows desktop).
9.1.2.1
Do not log in with your Microlab username.
9.1.2.2
The proper username and password for this PC are
posted on the underside of the keyboard.
These may change from time to time for network security purposes.
9.1.3
Turn on the illuminator dial at the back left side
of the Reichert.
9.1.4 If you intend to use a camera, confirm that it has its power (marked DC in) and video cables attached, and that its power cable is plugged into
the wall socket or power strip. There
need not be anything attached to EXT or Auto Iris.
9.2.1
Illumination: Illumination is controlled by the illuminator dial at the back left
of the microscope.
9.2.2
Stage Movement: The stage can be moved
horizontally by rotating the two coaxial knobs directly underneath the stage,
one for left-right and the other for forward-back. Do not move the stage by pushing it.
9.2.3
Focusing: Images are brought into focus
by vertical movement of the stage, bringing the object further from or closer
to the objective lens. This motion is
controlled by focus knobs located on the left and right sides of the
microscope, one set of coarse and fine adjustment on either side. The knobs are coaxial; the smaller is fine
and the larger is coarse.
9.2.4
Objectives: Six objective lenses (2x, 5x, 10x, 50x,
100x, and 150x) are installed on a motorized
head. This head is activated by the two
red buttons located on the left side of the microscope, one for clockwise
rotation and the other for counter-clockwise rotation. Each press of a button moves the head by one
lens position. Be careful not to crash
the objectives (Section 6.2).
9.2.5 Binoculars and Eyepieces
9.2.5.1
A pair of 15x eyepieces is mounted in the
binoculars.
9.2.5.2
A frame reticle eyepiece
is available, and is stored at the right rear of the microscope base. This eyepiece was previously used for
photographic alignment when the microscope had a Polaroid camera instead of a
video camera, but is still available if desired.
9.2.5.3
The width of the binoculars is adjustable for
comfortable fit.
9.2.6 Image Splitter: The microscope is equipped with a device that
can redirect part or all of the light from the entire area of the image, known
as an image splitter. The splitter is
controlled by the two knobs located on the left and right sides, above the
binoculars. A setting is made by pushing
a knob all the way in or pulling it all the way out. There are three settings—all light to the
binoculars, all light to the camera, or simultaneously half to the binoculars
and half to the camera. The three
diagrams above the binoculars, and reproduced below, indicate the correct
position of the knobs for the desired image path. The vertical arrow indicates light going to
the camera, the angled arrow indicates light going to the binoculars, and the
T-shape on the left and right of the arrows indicates whether the corresponding
knob should be pulled out or pushed in to achieve the setting.
9.2.7
Video Camera: The color video camera is
mounted vertically above the binocular housing.
To use the camera, it must have its power cable attached and plugged
into the wall socket, and it must have its video cable attached and hooked up
to the video card on the PC.
9.2.8
Condenser: Do not ever adjust the
condenser knob at the left rear. This
must be optically aligned, and should only be adjusted by staff.
9.3
Reflection
Microscopy (Top-Side Illumination)
9.3.1
The default setup for this microscope is
reflection microscopy. Users should
leave it in this state, and thus it should be found in this state. If it is not, simply replace the glass stage
with the wafer chuck stage and change the Path knob to the red dot.
9.3.2
Filter
wheel:
On the right hand side of the microscope there is a wheel, labeled filter, which emplaces different filters into the optical path. The settings are visible as colored dots on
the wheel. White illumination is given
to varying degrees by the small, medium and large white dot settings. The red dot setting gives the whitest
illumination. The X in a circle (Ä) setting cuts out the illumination.
The green dot setting emplaces a green filter.
9.3.3 F Wheel: On the right hand side of the microscope is a
wheel labeled F.
This controls a focusing octagon.
To help with focusing on featureless areas, this is an aperture, which
casts an octagonal shadow upon the surface of the object. Focusing the octagon thus brings the surface
into focus. The F wheel opens and closes the focusing octagon.
9.3.4
A Wheel: On the right hand side of the
microscope is a wheel labeled A. This wheel opens and closes an iris aperture
and thus allows a variable amount of light to pass.
9.4
Transmission
Microscopy (Bottom-Side Illumination)
9.4.1
The default state of the microscope is with the
wafer chuck stage installed. If the
glass stage is already installed, skip to step 9.4.5.
9.4.2
Move the stage all the way out from under the
objectives and carefully remove the wafer chuck stage by pushing up from below
the stage. The rotating part of the wafer chuck is not permanently affixed to the
stationary part. Thus you cannot
lift the stage by grasping the knobs on the chuck; however, it is possible for
the rotating part to fall off if the stage if care is not taken when removing
the chuck stage.
9.4.3
Obtain the glass stage.
9.4.4
Notice the red dot in one corner of the glass
stage. Align this red dot with the red
dot on the stage platform. This is the
corner, which should be inserted first.
There are two springs in this corner.
Insert the corner of the glass stage so that is presses the springs in and not down. Do not force
it. If it does not set relatively easily
into place, you are probably doing it wrong.
As it sets in, the other three corners should fall into place.
9.4.5
Change the Path knob at the right rear of the microscope to the black dot
setting. This changes the illumination
from the top side to the bottom side.
9.4.6
Various apertures and filters are available in the
bottom-side optical path.
9.5
Capturing
Microscope Image
9.5.1
Focus on the object (Sections 9.2 and
9.3,
or 9.4).
9.5.2
Send some or all of the light from the image to
the camera (Section
9.2.6).
9.5.3 Double-click on XCAP for Windows icon on the
Windows Desktop.
9.5.4
If it shows a licensing agreement, click Agree.
9.5.5
If it shows an information screen about XCAP-Lite, click OK.
9.5.6
EPIX® XCAP will start up, and open several
windows.
9.5.6.1
The main window is titled EPIX® XCAP V2.2. Most work is done in the other
two windows.
9.5.6.2
The image will be displayed in the window titled EPIX® PIXCI®:
View #1.
9.5.6.3 A smaller window titled EPIX® PIXCI® SV:
Capture & Adjust shows a schematic
of the external cable interface end of the video card. From top to bottom of this schematic are
shown a circle with five dots inside; two more plain circles; and a trapezoidal
figure with two large dots on either side.
Each of these four represents a video input, which is activated by clicking
on it with the mouse, causing it to be highlighted in red. Only the middle two, the two plain circles,
are used at this workstation. The lower circle is for the color video
microscope camera, and the upper circle is for the IR camera (covered in Section 9.6).
9.5.6.4
There may or may not also be a small window giving
system messages. These may generally be
ignored.
9.5.7 In the EPIX® PIXCI® SV: Capture & Adjust window, click on the lower middle circle so that it is highlighted in
red (Section
9.5.6.3) and select the button for Live. The window EPIX® PIXCI®: View #1 should now be showing live video of the same view
as that seen through the microscope binoculars.
You can confirm that it is live by moving the stage slightly.
9.5.8.1 Images should not be saved to the
desktop, as they may be subsequently erased.
If you are using a USB memory device, insert it into the USB port
mounted near the keyboard. If you are
saving to the hard drive, and have not done so before, create a new folder in
C:\XCAP\data\ and use your Microlab username as the folder name.
9.5.8.2
In the EPIX® PIXCI®: View #1 window, go to the File menu and select Save Image. An Image Save window will come up.
9.5.8.3
In the Image Save window, make your selection of file format and format options, and
click the Browse button. If you are saving to the hard drive, navigate
to C:\XCAP\data\ and open the folder with your username (you should have
already created it as in Section
9.5.8.1). If you are using a USB
memory device, navigate to that device.
Enter the name you would like to give the new image file. Click on Accept and the file system path and file name will appear in the File Name box on the Image Save window. Click on OK at the
bottom of this window to save the image.
9.5.8.4
If you have saved the image to the hard drive,
eventually you will have to transfer it to your own system. If you do not have a portable USB memory
device, the reichert workstation PC is equipped with
SSH Secure Shell Client software, which can be used for transferring files to
other locations on the Internet via FTP (file transmission protocol). For
example, you may transfer the image files to your account at
silicon.eecs.berkeley.edu and from there to your own Internet networked
personal computer, if that computer is also equipped with FTP software. To use this feature of the SSH Secure Shell
Client software, start the software, connect to the remote computer, and in the Window menu select New File Transfer. In the File Transfer window, which opens, you
can browse to the local and remote file locations, and
drag-and-drop your image files to copy them to the remote server.
9.6.1
Check that the IR lamp is plugged in and switched
on, that the IR camera’s power and video cables are plugged in, and that it is
covered by a silicon wafer. Users may
want to leave this wafer in place during imaging, as the IR lamp is sometimes
too bright and must be dimmed somewhat for the camera to work properly.
9.6.2
Using the image capture software for the IR
transmission camera is very similar to its use for the color video camera on
the microscope. Follow Sections 9.5.3
to
9.5.8, except that in Section
9.5.7 you click on the upper middle
circle to highlight it in red, activating the input associated with the IR
camera.
9.6.3
When finished, to avoid shining white light in the
photolithography area of the Microlab, either switch off the IR lamp or replace
the dummy silicon wafer on top of the lamp.
9.7 Finishing Use of
the Reichert Workstation
9.7.1
Exit from the EPIX software.
9.7.2
If the glass stage is installed in the stage
platform, remove it and replace the wafer chuck stage.
9.7.3
Turn the Path knob at
right rear so that the red dot is showing (i.e. the illumination path is to the
top side, for reflection microscopy).
9.7.4
Move the stage back into the microscope far enough
that it does not stick out.
9.7.5
Turn off the illuminator.
9.7.6
Ensure that a wafer covers the top of the IR lamp
at all times. This workstation is in the
photolithography area of the Microlab and the white light it emits may corrupt photoresists.
10.0 Troubleshooting Guidelines
10.1
There is no
illumination.
10.1.1 Check that reichert
is enabled, and that the illuminator knob is turned on high enough.
10.1.2 Check that the Path knob at
the right rear of the microscope is set correctly (red dot for reflective
microscopy with the wafer chuck stage, black dot for transmission microscopy
with the glass stage).
10.2
The
objective lens head will not rotate a lens into position.
The
illuminator must be turned on for the head to move.
10.3
The image
is not visible in the binoculars or camera or both.
After ensuring that the illumination is adequate (Section
10.1), check that the image splitter is on the correct setting (Section
9.2.6).
10.4
It is not
easy to determine whether the microscope is focused or not because it may be on
a featureless area.
Use the
dial marked F on the right hand side of the microscope to close
the focusing octagon (Section
9.3.3).
10.5
The EPIX
software is not capturing the image.
10.5.1 Check that the image splitter is on the
correct setting (Section
9.2.6).
10.5.2 Check that the power and video cables to the
camera are properly attached (Section
9.1.4).
10.5.3 Check in the EPIX PIXCI SV: Capture & Adjust window, that it is set to Live and that the lower circle is red for the
microscope capture or the upper circle is red for the IR camera capture.
11.0 Figures & Schematics
11.1 Figure 1 -
Appearance of the EPIX Software When Started
11.2 Figure 2 - EPIX
PIXCI SV: Capture & Adjust Window for Video Card Control
11.3 Figure 3 -
Appearance of Software with Video Working Properly
11.4 Figure 4 -
Beginning to Save an Image
11.5 Figure 5 -
Finishing the Image Save
12.0
Appendices
12.1
Available Hardware Options for Reichert Microscope
12.1.1 Eyepieces:
pair 15x W.F. (default); pair WP 10x/20; single 10x W.F. frame reticle.
12.1.2 Objectives:
2x, 5x, 10x, 50x, 100x, 150x (all installed).
12.1.3 Modules:
POL MET (default); BF (default); DF; G2 MET; U1 MET.
12.1.4 Stages:
Wafer chuck stage (default); glass stage.
12.1.5 Cameras and mounts:
Color digital video camera (default); Konica FT-1 35mm SLR camera; 5.0x
Format 2 mount; 2.8x Format 1 mount.