Application Example 39: On 3D Imaging of Semiconductor Devices by FE-SEM.

In semiconductor industries, there is a rapidly increasing demand to look at local structures of devices in 3D for the purpose of failure analysis. As the dimensions of the local structure of devices are decreasing rapidly to meet the 40nm node, this requires an ultrahigh-resolution FE-SEM with a subnanometer lateral resolution at an accelerating voltage of 1 kV. With such an ultrahigh-resolution FE-SEM, allied with a sophisticated FIB, 3D imaging of semiconductor devices seems to be feasible by the so-called ˵slice and view″ approach. However, is this possible in practice? In theory, it should be possible, but it could well be an illusion. On the 28th August 2008, I was invited to visit the Nano-Port of FEI, Eindhoven, Netherlands to see the performance of its most sophisticated FE-SEM ˵Magellan XHR″ – the first commercial FE-SEM with a subnanometer lateral resolution at an accelerating voltage of 1.0 kV. Naturally, I went there with two specimens; one was aluminum specimen with its surface covered with fine platelets of pseudo-bohmite and the other was a flash memory device whose structure has already been given in Application Example 28. The first specimen was very suited to check the resolution of the microscope whereas the second specimen was ideal to assess the feasibility of 3D imaging by the ˵slice and view″ approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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