Deformation under nanoindents in Si, Ge, and GaAs examined through transmission electron microscopy

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 3347-3350 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Lloyd ◽  
J. M. Molina-Aldareguia ◽  
W. J. Clegg

Cross sections through nanoindents on Si, Ge, and GaAs {001} were examined through transmission electron microscopy. A focused ion beam workstation was used to machine electron transparent windows through the indents. In both Si and Ge there was a transformed zone immediately under the indent composed of amorphous material and a mixture of face-centered-cubic and body-centered cubic crystals. Cracking and dislocation generation were also observed around the transformed zone. In GaAs the dominant deformation mechanism was twinning on the {11} planes. The hardness of these materials is discussed in light of these observations and their macroscopic material properties such as phase transformation pressure.

Author(s):  
Ching Shan Sung ◽  
Hsiu Ting Lee ◽  
Jian Shing Luo

Abstract Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) plays an important role in the structural analysis and characterization of materials for process evaluation and failure analysis in the integrated circuit (IC) industry as device shrinkage continues. It is well known that a high quality TEM sample is one of the keys which enables to facilitate successful TEM analysis. This paper demonstrates a few examples to show the tricks on positioning, protection deposition, sample dicing, and focused ion beam milling of the TEM sample preparation for advanced DRAMs. The micro-structures of the devices and samples architectures were observed by using cross sectional transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. Following these tricks can help readers to prepare TEM samples with higher quality and efficiency.


Author(s):  
K. Doong ◽  
J.-M. Fu ◽  
Y.-C. Huang

Abstract The specimen preparation technique using focused ion beam (FIB) to generate cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) samples of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Tungsten-plug (W-plug) and Tungsten Silicides (WSix) was studied. Using the combination method including two axes tilting[l], gas enhanced focused ion beam milling[2] and sacrificial metal coating on both sides of electron transmission membrane[3], it was possible to prepare a sample with minimal thickness (less than 1000 A) to get high spatial resolution in TEM observation. Based on this novel thinning technique, some applications such as XTEM observation of W-plug with different aspect ratio (I - 6), and the grain structure of CVD W-plug and CVD WSix were done. Also the problems and artifacts of XTEM sample preparation of high Z-factor material such as CVD W-plug and CVD WSix were given and the ways to avoid or minimize them were suggested.


Author(s):  
Chin Kai Liu ◽  
Chi Jen. Chen ◽  
Jeh Yan.Chiou ◽  
David Su

Abstract Focused ion beam (FIB) has become a useful tool in the Integrated Circuit (IC) industry, It is playing an important role in Failure Analysis (FA), circuit repair and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) specimen preparation. In particular, preparation of TEM samples using FIB has become popular within the last ten years [1]; the progress in this field is well documented. Given the usefulness of FIB, “Artifact” however is a very sensitive issue in TEM inspections. The ability to identify those artifacts in TEM analysis is an important as to understanding the significance of pictures In this paper, we will describe how to measure the damages introduced by FIB sample preparation and introduce a better way to prevent such kind of artifacts.


1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 413-414
Author(s):  
E.M. Hunt ◽  
J.M. Hampikian ◽  
N.D. Evans

Ion implantation can be used to alter the optical response of insulators through the formation of embedded nano-sized particles. Single crystal alumina has been implanted at ambient temperature with 50 keV Ca+ to a fluence of 5 x 1016 ions/cm2. Ion channeling, Knoop microhardness measurements, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicate that the alumina surface layer was amorphized by the implant. TEM also revealed nano-sized crystals ≈7 - 8 nm in diameter as seen in Figure 1. These nanocrystals are randomly oriented, and exhibit a face-centered cubic structure (FCC) with a lattice parameter of 0.409 nm ± 0.002 nm. The similarity between this crystallography and that of pure aluminum (which is FCC with a lattice parameter of 0.404 nm) suggests that they are metallic aluminum nanocrystals with a slightly dilated lattice parameter, possibly due to the incorporation of a small amount of calcium.Energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) provides an avenue by which to confirm the metallic nature of the aluminum involved in the nanocrystals.


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