PELCO^® Dimpler™ Accessories

PELCO^® Video Alignment Microscope (VAM)

For complete product specifications and PELCO® VAM accessories click here.

The PELCO^® Video Alignment Microscope (VAM) is designed for easy alignment and inspection of samples. It was originally designed as an accessory for the PELCO^® Dimpler™ for deprocessing/delayering and site-specific polishing applications. It allows for easy targeting of an area of interest, as well as precise control of the position, size, and shape of the bottom of the dimple or thinned area of the specimen. The VAM has a magnification of 100X or 200X (digital), with a bright TFT display. This unit includes a number of improvements over the Video Alignment Microscope originally offered by South Bay Technology Inc., particularly with regards to ease of use. These include: much improved platen holding and sample motion; an upgraded display; and a high quality crosshair in the optical path, rather than a screen overlay.

The PELCO^® Video Alignment Microscope may also be used as an inspection scope along with our Lapping Fixtures and other instruments. The 83004 base can be transferred directly between the 15000 Lapping Fixture and the Dimpler™. This allows for very easy disc thinning and subsequent dimpling.

83070 Kit for Large Samples

For complete product specifications, see the PELCO® Dimpler™ Accessories page.

The typical range in thickness for dimpled samples is 100 microns to 760 microns. The sensor sensitivity range is at maximum 2mm, which has generally limited operation to a small range of sample thickness. This kit provides a set of shims and a larger diameter tool that allows both taller and wider samples to be dimple polished. It greatly extends the utility for delayering larger semiconductor samples, and for other selective area polishing applications. The kit extends the maximum sample size to ~0.5" (12mm) in height and up to 3" (75mm) in diameter. It can be used with any of the PELCO^® Dimpler™ tool or platen sets, and is fully backwards compatible with all PELCO^® and South Bay Technology D500i Dimplers.

PELCO^® Dimpler™ Platen Sets

There are two platen sets intended for 3mm standard disc samples, the Standard Platen Set, with the through-hole, (83027) and the Adjustable Platen Set (83032). The Standard Platen Set consists of the Sapphire Flat (83001), Standard Platen (83002), Slurry Ring (83003), and Magnetic Base (83008). The through-hole allows inspection of the sample while backlit. This is very useful to determine when a hole forms in metal samples, or when a silicon cross-section or similar sample has become thin. The Adjustable Platen Set consists of the Sapphire Flat (83001), Adjustable Platen (83004), Slurry Ring (83003), and Magnetic Base (83008). The adjustable base provides a crosshair for easy sample positioning, and is cross-compatible with our Lapping Fixtures, allowing the sample to be efficiently thinned and flat polished prior to dimpling without having to demount it.

The Large Area Platen set is designed to work with the Large Area Tools for selective area polishing applications such as semiconductor delayering and deprocessing. It may also be useful anywhere a larger specimen or area needs to be polished, or a shallower dimple is desired. The set consists of the 83040 Large Area Platen and the 83007 Large Area Magnetic base. The platen is 25mm (1") in diameter and flat, to allow easy mounting of large flat samples such as electronic chips or dies up to 22 x 22 mm. Larger samples can be accommodated as long as they are sufficiently rigid.

The 83002 Standard Platen may also be used for X-Y stage alignment in combination with the 3i tool supplied with the Dimpler.

A new addition to the Dimpler™ Platen lineup is a variant of the large area platen that accommodates 1" pin stub mounts (83043), allowing for easy transfer between the Dimpler™ and the SEM. It accepts 16144-9 6mm pin stub mounts, which are securely held in place with dual set screws. A pin stub and hex key are included with the mount.

Sapphire Flat (#83001)

Standard Platen (#83002)

Slurry Ring (#83003)

Adjustable Platen (#83004)

Large Area Magnetic Base (#83007)

Standard Magnetic Base (#83008)

Large Area Platen (#83040)

Pin Stub Platen for Large Area (#83043)

PELCO^® Dimpler™ Tools

	Tool 1i (#83010)	Tool 2iT (#83014)	Tool 2iM (#83013)		(#83011)	(#83036)	(#83038)	(#83037)
	Tool 3i (#83012)	Tool 4iT (#83016)	Tool 4iM (#83015)		(#83039)	(#83044)	(#83045)	(#83047)
	STANDARD TOOLS				LARGE AREA TOOLS

The standard dimpling tools include flatting and dimpling tools, in both unpadded versions for faster material removal and padded versions for polishing. Tools are made from 316 stainless steel. Flatting tools such as Tools li and 2i, and the Large Area Tools have a flat profile while Dimpling Tools such as 3i and 4i have a radiused profile to produce a pronounced dimple. The flatting tools will still produce a dimple with the lowest point at the center of rotation, but it will have a much shallower height differential across the dimple.

A variety of padded and unpadded tools are available to meet many dimple polishing process requirements. The 83031 standard tool set for 3mm samples contains 6 tools, part numbers 83010, 83016, 83015, 83012, 83013, and 83014. Available tools are pictured below.

PELCO^® Dimpler™ Tool Repadding

Over time, polishing cloths may wear or become contaminated, particularly in delayering and selective polishing applications. Therefore, precut self-adhesive repadding kits are available for select Dimpler Tools, including 83013, 83039, 83045, and 83047. A small toolkit (83060) for rolling on the new padding material is also available. The supplied cloth is similar in performance to a Final C cloth. Instructions on repadding can be found in the Technical Note.