Sleep and aes applied to solid state devices and materials

A Scanning Low Energy Electron Probe (SLEEP), which has a spatial resolution of 3ε and an energy resolution of 50 mV near zero energy has been used in conjuntion with a cylindrical Auger Electron Spectrometer (AES) to study several surface properties of solid state devices and materials. The resistivity (ρ), dielectric constant (K), and dielectric strength of thin insulating layers (e.g., Al₂O₃) have been measured with SLEEP. AES has been used with inert gas sputtering to study the depth profile of ion implanted Aland Na in Si and SiO₂ and have been compared with other profiling techniques using identical samples. Surface potential variations of vacuum deposited metallic coatings on an integrated circuit using SLEEP has been correlated with surface impurities measured in situ with AES. In addition, examples will be given illustrating how the SLEEP technique can be used in an SEM mode for measuring secondary electron emission properties as well as for observing the location of defects in integrated circuits.