Advanced TEM applications in semiconductor devices

There is increasing demand of advanced TEM techniques for modern IC failure analysis. Some practical issues of using TEM holography in studying MOSFETs P-N junction, channel strain and magnetic domains are discussed in this paper. It is shown that salicide/contact have significant effect on the phase diagram of shallow S/D P-N junction and hinders its application in shallow junction devices. In holography strain measurement, it is found that intensity of diffraction beam depends strongly on the sample thickness and crystallography orientation. A proper sample thickness should be chosen to maximize the nearly two-beam diffraction beam intensity and therefore the measurement sensitivity. Magnetic domain imaging is much affected by the FIB damage during sample preparation and low energy milling should be employed. At last, it is demonstrated that numerical de-convolution of EELS spectrum provides improved energy resolution for more reliable dielectric bonding chemical analysis.