| Takeo Kamino | Naka Customer Center, |
| Tsuyoshi Onishi | Electronics Systems Design Department 1, Naka Division, |
| Kaoru Umemura | Advanced Technology Research Dept., Central Research Lab., |
| Kyoichiro Asayama | Process & Device Analysis Engineering Dept., |
| Kazutoshi Kaji | Advanced Glass & Material Characterization Unit, Department of Electronic Materials and Devices Research, Hitachi Research Lab., |
Increasingly higher circuit integration, density, functionality, and reliability of semiconductor devices demand a higher spatial resolution and user-friendliness for TEMs (transmission electron microscopes) and SEMs (scanning electron microscopes) that are used for failure analyses and other observation purposes. In response to these requirements, Hitachi Group has developed a new semiconductor device evaluation system by integrating a focused ion beam system and an ultra-thin film evaluation system based on STEM (scanning transmission electron microscope). For the best compatibility of rapid sample milling and fine milling conditions, the focusing ion beam system has an accelerating voltage range of 10 to 40 kV. The ultra-thin film evaluation system has both bright and dark field STEM detectors as well as a secondary electron detector for observing and obtaining a versatile specimen structure and compositional information. For analytical applications, it can also be used with an ener gy dispersive X-ray spectrometer and an electron energy-loss spectrometer. By making use of these detector/spectrometer systems, the ultra-thin film evaluation system can observe fine atomic-level structures and it can map light elements of sub-nanometer areas in real-time. In addition, we have developed a compatible specimen holder, which can be used with both the focusing ion beam system and the ultra-thin evaluation system without repositioning the sample. Furthermore, we have developed a micro-sampling technique that enables preparing site-specific specimens of any particular point from a device sample. With this technique micro-samples can be prepared with a positional accuracy of 100 nm or higher and the samples can be evaluated in four to five hours.
semiconductor device evaluation system, failure analysis, scanning tranmission electron microscope, focused ion beam, micro-sampling technique
