Precision Ion Polishing System -A New Instrument for TEM Specimen Preparation of Materials

1991 ◽  
Vol 254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Alani ◽  
Peter R. Swann
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Type Specimen ◽  
Vacuum System ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
High Voltage Power Supply ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Work Chamber

AbstractThe article describes the design, construction and performance of a new bench top instrument for high speed ion beam thinning and polishing of materials. In this system, the combination of very low angle ion milling and powerful ion guns has led to the rapid production of high quality TEM specimens. The main subassemblies are (1) a work chamber (2) gas control system (3) vacuum system and (4) electrical system. The work chamber consists of a pair of newly designed Penning type ion guns and Faraday cups to measure ion currents. The Whisperlok™ mechanism provides specimen rotation, pneumatically driven airlock for very fast specimen exchange and transmission/reflection illumination for specimen viewing. The ion guns are mounted to deliver a nominal, 4° milling angle on the specimen surface with precision alignment of ±2° about horizontal and vertical axes. The actual thinning is undertaken from one side using a single, post-type specimen holder which minimizes the specimen heating and contamination. The ion beam current of each gun can be individually optimized by varying the flow rate of the ionizing gas. The main chamber is evacuated by diaphragm and molecular drag pumps to produce a clean, dry vacuum in the 10−6 Torr range. The discharge and accelerating voltages required for the operation of each gun are provided by a dual high voltage power supply capable of delivering ion energies in the range; 1 keV to 6keV. TEM micrographs of typical ion polished specimens of semiconductors, metals, ceramics and composites are included to illustrate the performance of the instrument.

An Updated Ion Polishing System for Tem Specimen Preparation of Materials

1997 ◽  
Vol 480 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Alani ◽  
R. J. Mitro ◽  
P. R. Swann
Keyword(s):  
Vacuum System ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
Electronic Mechanism ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Specimen Quality ◽  
New Feature ◽  
And Performance

AbstractThe construction and performance of an improved ion milling instrument are described. The updated instrument is based upon an earlier version fixed low angle ion milling system. The updated system employs two improved guns having the ability of independent variable milling angle adjustment, while operating at high voltage in the vacuum system. The milling rate of these ion guns is typically ≈ 90μm/hr/gun pair for copper at 5keV and 10°. Designed to compliment the variable angle ion gun is a new specimen holder which permits low angle double sided milling. The combination of these two features offers numerous single or double sided milling conditions to facilitate the production of higher quality TEM specimens in less time. The range of ion gun angles encompassed is 0° to 10° for single-sided milling and 0° to ± 10° for double-sided milling. The instrument also incorporates an electronic mechanism to generate directional sector milling which benefits primarily the production of cross sectional TEM specimens and heat sensitive materials since the ion guns are turned off for a portion of time during each revolution. Another new feature of the instrument is chemical ion milling which facilitates the preparation of certain compound semiconductors. The ability of this improved ion milling instrument for rapid ion polishing and improved specimen quality is demonstrated by a number of TEM images of metals, ceramics and semiconductors.

A New Method for Pin Point Failure Analysis Using Fib Combined Analytical Tem

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 654-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Kamino ◽  
T. Yaguchi ◽  
H. Matsumoto ◽  
M. Tomita ◽  
H. Koike
Keyword(s):  
Ion Beam ◽  
Type Specimen ◽  
Beam Current ◽  
Beam Current Density ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Optics ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
Ion Probe ◽  
Probe Size ◽  
High Resolution Tem

Recently, we developed the dedicated FIB system(FB-2000A) for the TEM specimen preparation. The system has ion optics with the maximum ion beam current density of 15 A/cm2 and the minimum ion probe size of l0nm. In the system, the side entry type specimen stage originally designed for high resolution TEM was employed, and the drift rate of the stage during FIB milling is less than lnm/min. The FIB-TEM compatible specimen holder has been developed it made milling of specimen in FIB system and observation of milled specimen in TEM without remounting the specimen possible.. The holder was designed to rotate the specimen around the axis of specimen holder so that both side of milled surfaces can be faced to incident electron beam in TEM.To improve positional resolution in pin point TEM specimen preparation, it is important to know the inside structure of specimen before starting the milling.

Chemically Assisted Ion Beam Etching (CAIBE)- a New Technique for TEM Specimen Preparation of Materials

1990 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Alani ◽  
Joseph Jones ◽  
Peter Swann
Keyword(s):  
Ion Beam ◽  
Semiconductor Industry ◽  
Active Species ◽  
Inert Gas ◽  
New Technique ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Ion Beam Etching ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
Argon Ion

ABSTRACTChemically assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) is widely practiced in the semiconductor industry. In the electron microscopy field, the CAIBE technique offers a new method for preparing specimens that are difficult to make by conventional inert gas milling techniques, e.g. indium containing type III-V compound semiconductors. CAIBE employs a collimated, molecular beam of a reactive species, e.g. iodine in combination with a conventional inert gas fast atom beam for thinning TEM specimens. CAIBE should not be confused with reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) which takes a chemically active species (e.g. iodine) and converts it into a beam of fast ions directed at the sample. CAIBE has three major advantages over (RIBE): i) corrosion of the ion gun components does not occur, ii) much smaller quantities of reactive gas are required and hence pump maintenance and pollution problems are minimized, iii) a wider range of chemicals may be used. Superior results are obtained if CAIBE is done on only one side of the specimen at a time. This is achieved using a new type of specimen holder post which enables very low angle milling and minimizes specimen contamination by sputtering from the holder. This new technique is described and results from iodine CAIBE milling, iodine RIBE milling and argon ion milling are compared for InP, InSb and GaAs as well as metals like tungsten. Also, the beneficial effects of very low angle (∼1°) argon ion milling in preparing specimens of silicide containing Si based IC wafers is reported.

Low Energy Ar Ion Milling of FIB TEM Specimens from 14 nm and Future FinFET Technologies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.S. Bonifacio ◽  
P. Nowakowski ◽  
M.J. Campin ◽  
M.L. Ray ◽  
P.E. Fischione
Keyword(s):  
Field Effect Transistor ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
High Resolution Tem ◽  
Effect Transistor ◽  
20 Nm ◽  
Argon Ion

Abstract Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens are typically prepared using the focused ion beam (FIB) due to its site specificity, and fast and accurate thinning capabilities. However, TEM and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) analysis may be limited due to the resulting FIB-induced artifacts. This work identifies FIB artifacts and presents the use of argon ion milling for the removal of FIB-induced damage for reproducible TEM specimen preparation of current and future fin field effect transistor (FinFET) technologies. Subsequently, high-quality and electron-transparent TEM specimens of less than 20 nm are obtained.

Transmission Electron Microscopy of Semiconductor Based Products

1998 ◽  
Vol 523 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mardinly ◽  
David W. Susnitzky
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Semiconductor Industry ◽  
Size Reduction ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Specimen Thickness ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Feature Size ◽  
Transmission Electron

AbstractThe demand for increasingly higher performance semiconductor products has stimulated the semiconductor industry to respond by producing devices with increasingly complex circuitry, more transistors in less space, more layers of metal, dielectric and interconnects, more interfaces, and a manufacturing process with nearly 1,000 steps. As all device features are shrunk in the quest for higher performance, the role of Transmission Electron Microscopy as a characterization tool takes on a continually increasing importance over older, lower-resolution characterization tools, such as SEM. The Ångstrom scale imaging resolution and nanometer scale chemical analysis and diffraction resolution provided by modem TEM's are particularly well suited for solving materials problems encountered during research, development, production engineering, reliability testing, and failure analysis. A critical enabling technology for the application of TEM to semiconductor based products as the feature size shrinks below a quarter micron is advances in specimen preparation. The traditional 1,000Å thick specimen will be unsatisfactory in a growing number of applications. It can be shown using a simple geometrical model, that the thickness of TEM specimens must shrink as the square root of the feature size reduction. Moreover, the center-targeting of these specimens must improve so that the centertargeting error shrinks linearly with the feature size reduction. To meet these challenges, control of the specimen preparation process will require a new generation of polishing and ion milling tools that make use of high resolution imaging to control the ion milling process. In addition, as the TEM specimen thickness shrinks, the thickness of surface amorphization produced must also be reduced. Gallium focused ion beam systems can produce hundreds of Ångstroms of amorphised surface silicon, an amount which can consume an entire thin specimen. This limitation to FIB milling requires a method of removal of amorphised material that leaves no artifact in the remaining material.

Method for Cross-sectional Thin Specimen Preparation from a Specific Site Using a Combination of a Focused Ion Beam System and Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope and Its Application to the Characterization of a Precipitate in a Steel

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-291
Author(s):  
Toshie Yaguchi ◽  
Hiroaki Matsumoto ◽  
Takeo Kamino ◽  
Tohru Ishitani ◽  
Ryoichi Urao
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Specific Site ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Thin Specimen ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Electron Detector ◽  
Specimen Holder

AbstractIn this study, we discuss a method for cross-sectional thin specimen preparation from a specific site using a combination of a focused ion beam (FIB) system and an intermediate voltage transmission electron microscope (TEM). A FIB-TEM compatible specimen holder was newly developed for the method. The thinning of the specimen using the FIB system and the observation of inside structure of the ion milled area in a TEM to localize a specific site were alternately carried out. The TEM fitted with both scanning transmitted electron detector and secondary electron detector enabled us to localize the specific site in a halfway milled specimen with the positional accuracy of better than 0.1 µm. The method was applied to the characterization of a precipitate in a steel. A submicron large precipitate was thinned exactly at its center for the characterization by a high-resolution electron microscopy and an elemental mapping.

A Method for Site Specific Characterization Using a Dedicated FIB System Combined With an Analyitical TEM

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (S2) ◽  
pp. 914-915
Author(s):  
T. Kamino ◽  
T. Yaguchi ◽  
H. Matsumoto ◽  
H. Kobayashi ◽  
H. Koike
Keyword(s):  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Irradiation ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Thin Specimen ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
High Resolution Tem

A method for site specific characterization of the materials using a dedicated focused ion beam(FIB) system and an analytical transmission electron microscope (TEM) was developed. Needless to say, in TEM specimen preparation using FIB system, stability of a specimen is quite important. The specimen stage employed in the developed FIB system is the one designed for high resolution TEM, and the specimen drift rate of the stage is less than lnm/min. In addition, FIB-TEM compatible specimen holder which allows milling of a specimen with the FIB system and observation of the specimen with the TEM without re-loading was developed. To obtain thin specimen from the area to be characterized correctly, confirmation of the area before final milling is needed. However, observation of cross sectional view in a FIB system is recommended because it causes damage by Ga ion irradiation. To solve this problem, we used a STEM unit as a viewer of FIB milled specimen.

Focused Ion Beam Study of Ni5Al Single Splat Microstructure

2006 ◽  
Vol 983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhong Wu ◽  
Meng Qu ◽  
Lucille A Giannuzzi ◽  
Sanjay Sampath ◽  
Andrew Gouldstone
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Surface Engineering ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Deposition Process ◽  
Rapid Quenching ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Columnar Grains ◽  
Lift Off

AbstractThermally sprayed (TS) coatings are widely used for surface engineering across a range of industries, including aerospace, infrastructure and biomedical. TS materials are formed via the successive impingement, rapid quenching and build-up of molten powder particles on a substrate. The impacted ‘splats’ are thus the fundamental microstructural constituents of the coatings, and their intrinsic properties, as well as intersplat bonding and morphology, dictate coating behavior. Beyond the obvious practical considerations, from a scientific standpoint, splats represent a fascinating template for study, due to the highly non-equilibrium processing conditions (rapid deceleration from sub-sonic velocities, million-degree/sec cooling rates). In the literature, many studies of isolated splats on substrates have been carried out, but these have focused on overall morphology (disc-shape vs fragmented). Direct observations of microstructure, in particular cross-section, are limited in the specimen preparation stage due to splat size (tens of microns in diameter, 1-2 microns in thickness). However, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) techniques have allowed this problem to be addressed in a robust manner; in this paper we will discuss such approaches to observe Ni5Al splats on stainless steel substrates. Cross-sections through the splat and the substrate were created by recourse to ion milling and the ion beam itself provided good channeling contrast for grain imaging. The typical splat microstructure with sub-micron Ni(Al) columnar grains, a chill zone at the bottom and a lift off area is observed in high detail. In addition, an amorphous aluminum oxide top layer of 100-200 nm is partially present on top of the Ni(Al) columnar grains. At the splat/substrate interface, defects such as micro- and nano-scale pores were characterized for the first time and will be discussed. These observations provide insights into splat and interface formation during the deposition process and may drastically improve our current understanding of Ni5Al splat properties.

Comparison of Precision XTEM Specimen Preparation Techniques for Semiconductor Failure Analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 357-358
Author(s):  
C. Amy Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Sample Preparation ◽  
Failure Analysis ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Mechanical Polishing ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Tem Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Preparation Techniques

The demand for TEM analysis in semiconductor failure analysis is rising sharply due to the shrinking size of devices. A well-prepared sample is a necessity for getting meaningful results. In the past decades, a significant amount of effort has been invested in improving sample preparation techniques for TEM specimens, especially precision cross-sectioning techniques. The most common methods of preparation are mechanical dimpling & ion milling, focused ion beam milling (FIBXTEM), and wedge mechanical polishing. Each precision XTEM technique has important advantages and limitations that must be considered for each sample.The concept for both dimpling & ion milling and wedge specimen preparation techniques is similar. Both techniques utilize mechanical polishing to remove the majority of the unwanted material, followed by ion milling to assist in final polishing or cleaning. Dimpling & ion milling produces the highest quality samples and is a relatively easy technique to master.

scholarly journals Accurate Sub-micron Device Delayering of Plan View TEM Specimens By Ar Ion Milling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.S. Bonifacio ◽  
P. Nowakowski ◽  
R. Li ◽  
M.L. Ray ◽  
P.E. Fischione
Keyword(s):  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Failure Mechanisms ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
New Device ◽  
Device Structures

Abstract With the introduction of new materials, new device structures, and shrinking device dimensions, failure mechanisms evolve, which can make identifying defects challenging. Therefore, an accurate and controllable delayering process to target defects is desirable. We present a workflow comprised of bulk device delayering by broad Ar ion beam milling, plan view specimen preparation by focused ion beam tool, followed by site-specific delayering by concentrated Ar ion beam milling. The result is an accurately delayered device, without sample preparation-induced artifacts, that is suitable for uncovering defects during physical failure analysis.

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