US 12,169,187 B2
Method of and system for performing subsurface imaging using vibration sensing
Daniele Piras, Amsterdam (NL); Paul Louis Maria Joseph van Neer, Bergschenhoek (NL); Maarten Hubertus van Es, Voorschoten (NL); and Hamed Sadeghian Marnani, Nootdorp (NL)
Assigned to Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, 's-Gravenhage (NL)
Appl. No. 16/477,479
Filed by Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, s-Gravenhage (NL)
PCT Filed Jan. 11, 2018, PCT No. PCT/NL2018/050018
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 11, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/132003, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 19, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 17151437 (EP), filed on Jan. 13, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0124571 A1, Apr. 23, 2020
Int. Cl. G01N 29/06 (2006.01); G01N 29/24 (2006.01); G01N 29/26 (2006.01); G01Q 60/32 (2010.01); G01S 7/527 (2006.01); G01S 15/04 (2006.01); G01S 15/89 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 29/0654 (2013.01) [G01N 29/2437 (2013.01); G01N 29/26 (2013.01); G01S 7/527 (2013.01); G01S 15/04 (2013.01); G01S 15/89 (2013.01); G01Q 60/32 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of performing subsurface imaging of one or more embedded structures in a substrate underneath a substrate surface using a scanning probe microscopy system, the method comprising the steps of:
scanning the substrate surface using a probe having a cantilever and a probe tip, the probe tip being in contact with the substrate surface intermittently or continuously;
applying, using a signal application actuator, an acoustic input signal to the substrate, the acoustic input signal comprising a discontinuous signal of an acoustic signal component, wherein the acoustic signal component has a frequency in a gigahertz range, such that the return signal includes a scattered fraction of the discontinuous signal that is scattered from the embedded structures;
detecting, using a vibration sensor, after applying the acoustic signal, within a detection depth below the substrate surface, a return signal from the substrate; and
analyzing the return signal for obtaining information on the one or more embedded structures, for enabling imaging thereof;
wherein the discontinuous signal is of a controlled limited time duration,
wherein the method further comprises controlling the controlled limited time duration by a controller such that the controlled limited time duration is shorter than the detection depth divided by a speed of sound within a material of the substrate, such that forward and backward propagation of the discontinuous signal in the sample do not mix, and
wherein, during applying the acoustic input signal to the substrate, the signal application actuator acts on the at least one of the cantilever or the probe tip for applying the discontinuous signal to the at least one of the cantilever or the probe tip, so as to apply the discontinuous signal to the substrate via the probe tip.