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Imaging Thin Films of Nanoporous Low-k Dielectrics: Comparison between Ultramicrotomy and Focused Ion Beam Preparations for Transmission Electron Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2005

Leslie E. Thompson ,
Philip M. Rice ,
Eugene Delenia ,
Victor Y. Lee ,
Phillip J. Brock ,
Teddie P. Magbitang ,
Geraud Dubois ,
Willi Volksen ,
Robert D. Miller  and
Ho-Cheol Kim
Leslie E. Thompson
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Philip M. Rice
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Eugene Delenia
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Victor Y. Lee
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Phillip J. Brock
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Teddie P. Magbitang
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Geraud Dubois
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Willi Volksen
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Robert D. Miller
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
Ho-Cheol Kim
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120-6099
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Abstract

Ultramicrotomy, the technique of cutting nanometers-thin slices of material using a diamond knife, was applied to prepare transmission electron microscope (TEM) specimens of nanoporous poly(methylsilsesquioxane) (PMSSQ) thin films. This technique was compared to focused ion beam (FIB) cross-section preparation to address possible artifacts resulting from deformation of nanoporous microstructure during the sample preparation. It was found that ultramicrotomy is a successful TEM specimen preparation method for nanoporous PMSSQ thin films when combined with low-energy ion milling as a final step. A thick, sacrificial carbon coating was identified as a method of reducing defects from the FIB process which included film shrinkage and pore deformation.

Keywords

FIBlow-k materialsnanoporous materialsultramicrotomyTEM
Type
MATERIALS APPLICATIONS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 156 - 159
Copyright
© 2006 Microscopy Society of America

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References

REFERENCES

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