Prober Shuttle PS8e

Encoded on all 27 axes#

The PS8e is the encoded evolution of Kleindiek’s 140 mm Prober Shuttle platform. Every one of its 27 axes of motion (the three axes on up to eight ultra-flat MM4 manipulators, plus the three-axis substage) now incorporates a positional encoder, so the system always knows exactly where each probes and the sample sit. A full park-and-restore cycle across all eight probes and the substage completes in about one minute, and a list of user-definable store points lets you re-address the same sample locations on demand instead of spending valuable time hunting for them over and over again.

Low-kV, start to finish#

The automation is what moves the enables nanoprobing on 3 nm and beyond using the PS8e. Manually locating and landing eight probes requires acceleration voltages high enough to actually see the tips without distortion — voltages that also damage the device you’re trying to characterize. Encoded pre-alignment removes that trade-off: the complete probing workflow, from initial park to the final I–V sweep, runs at low beam energy, so beam-induced damage to the sample is mimimized.

The shuttle pairs with the Advanced Probing Tools suite, including the Live Contact Tester and Electron-Beam-Induced-Current (EBIC/EBAC) imaging modules.

Built for the most advanced nodes#

Noise of just 20 fA at 1 Hz and sub-0.02 nm linear resolution on every axis keep the PS8e suitable for the small currents native to advanced-node devices. Stand-alone electronics sit in a 19-inch rack outside the chamber and out of the operator’s sightline, with the entire system controlled from the APT UI over clean cabling from flange to rack. Non-magnetic and lightweight, the platform drops into your existing SEM or FIB/SEM and tilts to the FIB angle for circuit-edit and delayering work.