A measurement technique based on a microwave near-field scanning probe is
developed for non-contact measurement of dielectric constant of low-k
films. The technique is non-destructive, non-invasive and can be used on
both porous and non-porous dielectrics. The technique is based on
measurement of resonant frequency shift of the near-field microwave
resonator for a plurality of calibration samples vs. distance between the
probe tip and the sample to construct a calibration curve. Probe
resonance frequency shift measured for the sample under study vs.
tip-sample separation is fitted into the calibration curve to extract the
dielectric constant of the sample under study. The calibration permits
obtaining a linear calibration curve in order to simplify the extraction
of the dielectric constant of the sample under study.