Dose Measurements on Micro- and Submicrometer Implanted Structures using Thermal-Waves
ABSTRACTThermal-wave measurement techniques have recently been developed for measuring ion implant dose over the range 1E10 to 1E16 ions/cm2. The spatial resolution obtained with this method is 1 µm, an improvement of approximately 3000X over that of other dose monitors. This resolution capability together with the fact that the thermal-wave measurements are noncontact and nondestructive, permit dose measurements to be made on implanted areas (device features) on patterned wafers, as well as on test wafers.A new potential application of the thermal-wave technique is the measurement of dose implanted by focused ion beam (FIB). Since the FIB technique is a high-resolution, direct-write process and since current FIB systems are limited to scan fields of less than 0.5 mm2, a high-resolution probe to monitor dose and uniformity is necessary.In this paper, we report the measurement of ion dose implanted by focused beams into areas of ‹10−2 mm2. Even single FIB-implanted lines of 0.20 µm width have been detected, and programmed lateral dose variations measured. Experimental results demonstrating the potential of this technique are presented.