Vion Plasma Focused Ion Beam

Proc. SPIE 8324, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXVI, 832413 (March 29, 2012); doi:10.1117/12.9165613D IC integration continues to increase in complexity, employing advanced interconnect technologies such as throughsilicon vias (TSVs), wafer-to-wafer (W2W) bonding, and multi-chip stacking. As always, the challenge with developing new processes is to get fast, effective feedback to the integration engineer. Ideally this data is provided by nondestructive in-line metrology, but this is not always possible. For example, some form of physical cross-sectioning is still the most practical way to detect and characterize TSV copper plating voids. This can be achieved by cleaving, followed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection. A more effective physical cross-sectioning method has been developed using an automated dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM system, in which multiple locations can be sectioned and imaged while leaving the wafer intact. This method has been used routinely to assess copper plating voids over the last 24 months at SEMATECH. FIB-SEM feedback has been used to evaluate new plating chemistries, plating recipes, and process tool requalification after downtime. The dualbeam FIB-SEM used for these studies employs a gallium-based liquid metal ion source (LMIS). The overall throughput of relatively large volumes being milled is limited to 3-4 hours per section due to the maximum available beam current of 20 nA. Despite the larger volumetric removal rates of other techniques (e.g., mechanical polishing, broad-ion milling, and laser ablation), the value of localized, site-specific, and artifact-free FIB milling is well appreciated. The challenge, therefore, has been to reap the desired FIB benefits, but at faster volume removal rates. This has led to several system and technology developments for improving the throughput of the FIB technique, the most recent being the introduction of FIBs based on an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ion source. The ICP source offers much better performance than the LMIS at very high beam currents, enabling more than 1 μA of ion beam current for fast material removal. At a lower current, the LMIS outperforms the ICP source, but imaging resolution below 30 nm has been demonstrated with ICP-based systems. In addition, the ICP source allows a wide range of possible ion species, with Xe currently the milling species of choice, due to its high mass and favorable ion source performance parameters. Using a 1 μA Xe beam will have an overall milling rate for silicon some 20X higher than a Ga beam operating at 65 nA. This paper will compare the benefits already seen using the Ga-based FIB-SEM approach to TSV metrology, with the improvements in throughput and time-to-data obtained by using the faster material removal capabilities of a FIB based on an ICP ion source. Plasma FIB (PFIB) is demonstrated to be a feasible tool for TSV plating void metrology.

Microscopy and Analysis, Volume 25 Issue 7 November 20113D integration schemes connect stacked integrated circuits using through silicon vias (TSV) and special bonding techniques. Physical characterization of these TSVs and bonds is essential, but their relatively large size (tens or hundreds of micrometers) requires prohibitively long milling times in the conventional focused ion beam (FIB) systems typically used for this work. A new plasma-based FIB system can remove material more than 20 times faster, providing the speed and precision required to ensure robust processes and reliable products.

Electronic Device Failure Analysis, Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2011 (ASM International) Published: Feb 2011The focused ion beam (FIB) has become an invaluable tool in many aspects of semiconductor process development, circuit edit, low-yield analysis, and failure analysis (FA). Its key attributes are the ability to create highly site-specific cross sections and transmission electron microscope (TEM) samples and to perform gate-level circuit rewire and debug. With sectioning, the FIB can make localized openings through widely differing material types, enabling analysis on areas that would not be possible by mechanical polishing due to both the localization required (e.g., a 20 nm thick TEM sample must be located to within a few nanometers of the correct location) and the sample-preparation challenges, such as material smearing/tearing due to differences in hardness.