Rocking-Angle Ion-Milling of Cross-Sectional Samples for Transmission Electron Microscopy of Multi-Layer Systems

1997 ◽  
Vol 480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong Soo Lee ◽  
Hyun Ha Kim ◽  
Young Woo Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Incidence Angle ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Angle Variation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
The Cross

AbstractThe cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens of Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si, RuO2/SiO2/Si, W/TiN/SiO2/Si, (Pb,La)TiO3/Pt/MgO, Bi4Ti3O12/Lal-xCaxMnO3/MgO, and GaN/Al2O3 were successfully made by the rocking-angle ion-milling technique. The differential thinning problems could be effectively mitigated when the rocking-angle and the ion-beam incidence angle were optimized for each heterostructure. It was found that the sputtering yield ratio between the layer milled most quickly and the layer milled most slowly is one of the important factors which determine the optimum rocking-angle ion-milling condition. The atomic force microscopy study on the surface topography of the cross-sectional Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si TEM sample after ion-milling provided quantitative information about the effects of the rocking-angle variation. A parameter which is the ratio between the layer with a minimum electron transparency and the layer with a maximum electron transparency was suggested.

Ion thinning of integrated circuit transverse specimens for transmission electron microscopy

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1426-1427
Author(s):  
F. Shaapur
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Substrate Surface ◽  
Homogeneous Material ◽  
Material System ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Motion Profile

Non-uniform ion-thinning of heterogenous material structures has constituted a fundamental difficulty in preparation of specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A variety of corrective procedures have been developed and reported for reducing or eliminating the effect. Some of these techniques are applicable to any non-homogeneous material system and others only to unidirectionalfy heterogeneous samples. Recently, a procedure of the latter type has been developed which is mainly based on a new motion profile for the specimen rotation during ion-milling. This motion profile consists of reversing partial revolutions (RPR) within a fixed sector which is centered around a direction perpendicular to the specimen heterogeneity axis. The ion-milling results obtained through this technique, as studied on a number of thin film cross-sectional TEM (XTEM) specimens, have proved to be superior to those produced via other procedures.XTEM specimens from integrated circuit (IC) devices essentially form a complex unidirectional nonhomogeneous structure. The presence of a variety of mostly lateral features at different levels along the substrate surface (consisting of conductors, semiconductors, and insulators) generally cause non-uniform results if ion-thinned conventionally.

TEM Sample Preparation Tricks for Advanced DRAMs

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching Shan Sung ◽  
Hsiu Ting Lee ◽  
Jian Shing Luo
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Sample Preparation ◽  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Tem Analysis ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Characterization Of Materials

Abstract Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) plays an important role in the structural analysis and characterization of materials for process evaluation and failure analysis in the integrated circuit (IC) industry as device shrinkage continues. It is well known that a high quality TEM sample is one of the keys which enables to facilitate successful TEM analysis. This paper demonstrates a few examples to show the tricks on positioning, protection deposition, sample dicing, and focused ion beam milling of the TEM sample preparation for advanced DRAMs. The micro-structures of the devices and samples architectures were observed by using cross sectional transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. Following these tricks can help readers to prepare TEM samples with higher quality and efficiency.

Transmission Electron Microscopy of Semiconductor Based Products

1998 ◽  
Vol 523 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mardinly ◽  
David W. Susnitzky
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Semiconductor Industry ◽  
Size Reduction ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Specimen Thickness ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Feature Size ◽  
Transmission Electron

AbstractThe demand for increasingly higher performance semiconductor products has stimulated the semiconductor industry to respond by producing devices with increasingly complex circuitry, more transistors in less space, more layers of metal, dielectric and interconnects, more interfaces, and a manufacturing process with nearly 1,000 steps. As all device features are shrunk in the quest for higher performance, the role of Transmission Electron Microscopy as a characterization tool takes on a continually increasing importance over older, lower-resolution characterization tools, such as SEM. The Ångstrom scale imaging resolution and nanometer scale chemical analysis and diffraction resolution provided by modem TEM's are particularly well suited for solving materials problems encountered during research, development, production engineering, reliability testing, and failure analysis. A critical enabling technology for the application of TEM to semiconductor based products as the feature size shrinks below a quarter micron is advances in specimen preparation. The traditional 1,000Å thick specimen will be unsatisfactory in a growing number of applications. It can be shown using a simple geometrical model, that the thickness of TEM specimens must shrink as the square root of the feature size reduction. Moreover, the center-targeting of these specimens must improve so that the centertargeting error shrinks linearly with the feature size reduction. To meet these challenges, control of the specimen preparation process will require a new generation of polishing and ion milling tools that make use of high resolution imaging to control the ion milling process. In addition, as the TEM specimen thickness shrinks, the thickness of surface amorphization produced must also be reduced. Gallium focused ion beam systems can produce hundreds of Ångstroms of amorphised surface silicon, an amount which can consume an entire thin specimen. This limitation to FIB milling requires a method of removal of amorphised material that leaves no artifact in the remaining material.

Microstructure of LaB6-base thick film resistors

1992 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 2225-2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z.G. Li ◽  
P.F. Carcia ◽  
P.C. Donohue
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Thick Film ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Electrically Conductive ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
High Temperature Processing ◽  
Thin Wedge

The microstructure of LaB6-base thick film resistors was investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The specimens were prepared by a technique that polished them to a thin wedge, thus avoiding ion-milling and permitting imaging over a distance of tens of microns. The resistor microstructure contained a finely divided electrically conductive phase of TaB2 and nonconducting crystals of CaTa4O11, formed during high temperature processing of glass and LaB6 ingredients of the thick film ink. Using higher surface area ingredients virtually suppressed the formation of CaTa4O11 crystals, and the microstructure became more uniform. Resistors made with higher surface area intermediates also had better voltage withstanding properties.

A Polishless Method For Preparation Of Cross-Sectional Tem Samples

1987 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Wetzel ◽  
D. A. Danner
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Lift Off ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Transparent Area

ABSTRACTCross-sectional samples for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) have been made without the use of mechanical polishing and ion beam milling. Instead of traditional methods, we have used a combination of electron beam (e-beam) lithography for metal lift-off and reactive ion etching (RIE) to produce TEM samples of selected areas. The sample integrity for handling, dropping and ease of use is excellent, and the large amount of transparent area available for study is nearly 2 orders of magnitude larger than that given by traditional methods. The thickness of the samples is somewhat extreme, on the order of 0.50–1.0μm, but efforts are being made to reduce this dimension in order to make the method applicable to the whole range of materials used in silicon technology.

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