Lake Shore CVT probes improve efficiency and accuracy of probe station measurement across range of temperatures
02/25/2013
Patented CVT probe design absorbs probe arm movement caused by thermal expansion and contraction, allowing for continuous data measurement
continuously variable temperature (CVT) probe

Lake Shore announces today a new continuously variable temperature (CVT) probe, developed in collaboration with TOYO Corporation, that allows for true, continuous unattended wafer probing of a material sample across a range of temperatures. The probes, when used in any Lake Shore probe station, significantly improve reliability of sample measurement.

To avoid injecting unwanted heat into the sample device, Lake Shore cryogenically cools the probes on all of its family of probe stations to ensure accurate sample measurements. The CVT probe patented design eliminates the need to lift and re-land probes each time the sample stage temperature is adjusted. Lake Shore probe stations maintain the tightest control over temperature at the point of contact with the material sample, and the continuously variable temperature probes allow for measurement automation over wide temperature ranges.

Probe movement: standard vs. CVT

With the probe thermally anchored to the sample stage, a standard probe tip may move as much as 400 µm as the sample stage warms from 4.2 K to room temperature. Lake Shore’s patented CVT probe design absorbs probe arm movement caused by thermal expansion and contraction. The result is a stable probe tip landing position throughout variable temperature cycling. While improving usability and allowing for uninterrupted and unattended variable temperature measuring, the CVT tip also enables continuous data measurement rather than measurement intervals, increasing the reliability of results.

“Researchers who are exploring how a material behaves at various temperatures turn to Lake Shore probe stations for accuracy and control. Customers who want to land their probes and take accurate measurements over temperature are no longer forced to sacrifice thermal control of their probe to ensure that the tip stays in contact with the sample under test. These new tips help improve the reliability of these important experiments,” says Scott Yano, Lake Shore probe station engineering manager.

The improved functionality also improves ease of use for measurements such as:
  • Hall effect
  • Gated Hall
  • Gated current/voltage (IV)
  • Anomalous Hall effect (AHE)
  • Magnetoresistance (MR)
  • Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS)
  • Capacitance/voltage (CV)
  • Photoluminescence
 CVT probes can be used in place of standard probes on existing platforms.