| Munetoshi Fukui | Application Technology Dept., Advanced Equipment & Systems Sales Div., |
| Yasuhiro Mitsui, Ph.D. | Application Technology Dept., Advanced Equipment & Systems Sales Div., |
| Yasuhiko Nara | Advanced Microscope Systems Design Dept., Naka Div., Nanotechnology Products Business Gr., |
| Fumiko Yano, Ph.D. | Failure Analysis Technology Gr., Process & Device Analysis Engineering Development Dept, Process Technology Development Div., |
| Takashi Furukawa, Dr.Sci. | Advanced Technology Research Dept., Central Research Lab., |
Failure analysis of semiconductor device is becoming increasingly difficult as VLSI technology evolves toward smaller features and semiconductor device structures become more complex. Especially considering that the defective area obtained through diagnosis pin-pointing faulty sites is not the same size as the area subjected to physical analysis, and this disparity becomes more pronounced as feature sizes shrink. This prompted us to develop an extremely fine scaled SEM mechanical probing system permitting identification of minute fault sites. The development involved a number of related projects including investigation of a precision probe and stage mechanism that can deal with submicron semiconductor devices, a six-probe mechanism for expanded capabilities of performing inverter measurements and precision single transistor measurements, a probe and sample exchange mechanism that works while under vacuum to achieve high throughput, and a robust CAD navigation system. The system is now ready and available for practical application to 65-nm feature devices, and can be readily adapted to at least the next couple of generation nodes.
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Hitachi High-Technologies |
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The Hitachi Hyoron (Japanese Only) |
failure analysis, semiconductor device, nanoprobing, SEM
