In Situ Mitigation of Subsurface and Peripheral Focused Ion Beam Damage via Simultaneous Pulsed Laser Heating

Abstract Several methods are used to invert samples 180 deg in a dual beam focused ion beam (FIB) system for backside milling by a specific in-situ lift out system or stages. However, most of those methods occupied too much time on FIB systems or requires a specific in-situ lift out system. This paper provides a novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation method to eliminate the curtain effect completely by a combination of backside milling and sample dicing with low cost and less FIB time. The procedures of the TEM pre-thinned sample preparation method using a combination of sample dicing and backside milling are described step by step. From the analysis results, the method has applied successfully to eliminate the curtain effect of dual beam FIB TEM samples for both random and site specific addresses.

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Investigations of Leakage Paths in Sub-0.35μm DRAM Products Using Advanced Focused Ion Beam Techniques

ISTFA 1998: Conference Proceedings from the 24th International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis ◽

10.31399/asm.cp.istfa1998p0289 ◽

1998 ◽

Author(s):

H. Lorenz ◽

C. Engel

Keyword(s):

Focused Ion Beam ◽

Cell Function ◽

Dielectric Breakdown ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Electrical Characterization ◽

Floating Gate ◽

Leakage Path ◽

Contrast Technique ◽

Voltage Contrast

Abstract Due to the continuously decreasing cell size of DRAMs and concomitantly diminishing thickness of some insulating layers new failure mechanisms appear which until now had no significance for the cell function. For example high resistance leakage paths between closely spaced conductors can lead to retention problems. These are hard to detect by electrical characterization in a memory tester because the involved currents are in the range of pA. To analyze these failures we exploit the very sensitive passive voltage contrast of the Focused Ion Beam Microscope (FIB). The voltage contrast can further be enhanced by in-situ FIB preparations to obtain detailed information about the failure mechanism. The first part of this paper describes a method to detect a leakage path between a borderless contact on n-diffusion and an adjacent floating gate by passive voltage contrast achieved after FIB circuit modification. In the second part we will demonstrate the localization of a DRAM trench dielectric breakdown. In this case the FIB passive voltage contrast technique is not limited to the localization of the failing trench. We can also obtain the depth of the leakage path by selective insitu etching with XeF2 stopped immediately after a voltage contrast change.

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Cyclic Deformation of Microcantilevers Using In-Situ Micromanipulation

Experimental Mechanics ◽

10.1007/s11340-021-00752-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

A. H. S. Iyer ◽

M. H. Colliander

Keyword(s):

Degrees Of Freedom ◽

Focused Ion Beam ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Structural Components ◽

Cyclic Testing ◽

Phase Boundaries ◽

Bulk Specimen ◽

Arbitrary Position ◽

Three Degrees Of Freedom

Abstract Background The trend in miniaturisation of structural components and continuous development of more advanced crystal plasticity models point towards the need for understanding cyclic properties of engineering materials at the microscale. Though the technology of focused ion beam milling enables the preparation of micron-sized samples for mechanical testing using nanoindenters, much of the focus has been on monotonic testing since the limited 1D motion of nanoindenters imposes restrictions on both sample preparation and cyclic testing. Objective/Methods In this work, we present an approach for cyclic microcantilever bending using a micromanipulator setup having three degrees of freedom, thereby offering more flexibility. Results The method has been demonstrated and validated by cyclic bending of Alloy 718plus microcantilevers prepared on a bulk specimen. The experiments reveal that this method is reliable and produces results that are comparable to a nanoindenter setup. Conclusions Due to the flexibility of the method, it offers straightforward testing of cantilevers manufactured at arbitrary position on bulk samples with fully reversed plastic deformation. Specific microstructural features, e.g., selected orientations, grain boundaries, phase boundaries etc., can therefore be easily targeted.

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Pulsed laser heating of soot: morphological changes

Carbon ◽

10.1016/s0008-6223(98)00169-9 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 231-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

Randy L Vander Wal ◽

Mun Y Choi

Keyword(s):

Laser Heating ◽

Morphological Changes ◽

Pulsed Laser ◽

Pulsed Laser Heating

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Thermal Modeling of the Cavity in Pulsed Excimer Laser Calorimeters

10.1115/imece2000-1574 ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

D. H. Chen ◽

Z. M. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Laser Heating ◽

Average Power ◽

Pulsed Laser ◽

Thermal Response ◽

Element Model ◽

Electrical Heating ◽

Deep Ultraviolet ◽

Simplified Finite Element Model ◽

193 Nm ◽

Pulsed Laser Heating

Abstract A simplified finite element model is built to study the thermal response of the 193-nm pulsed-laser calorimeter. The nonequivalence between pulsed-laser heating and electrical heating is estimated to be 0.46% at the thermocouple locations by comparing the calibration factors for average-power laser heating and electrical heating. This study should help the development of calibration and measurement standards in pulsed energy measurements for deep ultraviolet excimer lasers that are important for photolithographic and materials processing applications.

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