Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy study for non-destructive stress analysis of thermal silicon-oxide film

In this article, a technique for non-destructive stress analysis of thermal silicon-oxide (SiO_x) film using cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy is described. The uniaxial tensile tester which can be used in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber was developed to apply tensile stress to the film specimen. CL spectra of SiO_x film were measured under various tensile stresses. The peak position linearly increased at 7.53×10^-3 eV/GPa with an increase in tensile stress. The peak intensity and half bandwidth changed with an increase in electron beam (EB) irradiation time period. Using Raman spectroscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM), it was found that EB irradiation produced silicon nanocrystals in SiO_x film. The nanocrystals as well as applied stress affected CL spectra.