Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g7rbq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T16:37:40.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sensitivity of SEM/EDX to Detect Small Particles on Substrates.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

M.F. Thornton.
M.F. Thornton.*
Affiliation:
Oxford Instruments, Halifax Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP 12 3 SE, England.E-mail : matthew.thornton@oxinst.co.uk
Get access

Extract

The characterization of microscopic particles on substrates is of interest in numerous scientific fields. One example is semiconductor device defect review, where the characterization of particles or defects on a device is an essential aid in tracing sources of contamination in the production process. With the ever decreasing component separation on the integrated circuits the sensitivity of SEM/EDX to detect small particles on substrates is an important issue. The minimum size of particles causing defects in semiconductor device manufacture is predicted to decrease from 0.12µm today to 0.02µm by the year 2010. The question of interest is how long the SEM/EDX analysis tool can continue to be used to identify elements present in “killer” defect particles of ever decreasing size? This paper attempts to address this question.

It has already been shown that films as thin as a monolayer can be detected with WDX provided high beam currents are available.

Type
Low Voltage SEM Imaging and Analysis for The Biological and Materials Sciences
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 1221 - 1222
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. National Technology Roadmapfor Semiconductors, Semiconductor Industry Association, (1994).Google Scholar

2. Brown, J.D., Spectrochimica Acta, 38B (1983) 1411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Myklebust, R.L. et al., NBS Special Publication 604.Google Scholar

4. Statham, P.J., Analytical Chemistry, 49 (1977) 2149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. McCarthy, J.J., Scanning Electron Microscopy, (1980) 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. Schamber, F.H., X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Environmental Samples, (1977) 241.Google Scholar

7. Waldo, R.A., Proceedings 23rd MAS (1988) 310.Google Scholar

8. Nockolds, C.E., Microbeam Analysis, 3 (1994) 185.Google Scholar