scholarly journals Proton irradiation-induced blistering in UO2

MRS Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Pakarinen ◽  
Lingfeng He ◽  
Jian Gan ◽  
Andrew T. Nelson ◽  
Anter El-Azab ◽  
...  

AbstractProton (H+) irradiation effects in polycrystalline UO2 have been studied. The irradiation was carried out using three ion energies and two different ion fluxes at 600 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations showed that significant surface flaking took place. Focused ion beam (FIB) milling in SEM was successfully applied for extracting lamellas from uneven blistered surfaces for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations allowing detailed investigations for the degradation mechanisms. High-resolution TEM for the flaked UO2 surfaces revealed that the implanted H+ formed sharp two-dimensional cavities at the peak ion-stopping region instead of diffusing to the matrix. The resulting lateral stress likely caused UO2 surface deterioration in good agreement with previous blistering and flaking studies on crystalline materials. Graphical abstract

2002 ◽  
Vol 738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz D. Wanzenboeck ◽  
Stefan Harasek ◽  
Wolfgang Brezna ◽  
Alois Lugstein ◽  
Helmut Langfischer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTImaging critical features by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides a versatile approach for nanostructure characterization. The combination of focused ion beam (FIB) technology for exposing defective sites beneath the surface is shown. Reliability testing and defect analysis by localized characterization of multilayered structures is demonstrated. TEM-imaging of a transistor gate with a locally confined radiation damage demonstrates target preparation by FIB yielding high-resolution TEM samples. The TEM imaging requires a longer sample preparation but provides high image quality (TEM). Investigation of materials previously processed with FIB revealed amorphization damage by the high energetic Ga-ion beam. This damage layer with a thickness in the range of 50 to 100 nm was confirmed in simulation. This disadvantageous damage by amorphization originating from FIB preparation of the cross-section could be removed by soft sputtering with a 250 V Ar+ ion beam. This combined method using FIB for microsample preparation and TEM for imaging and analysis was proven to be a powerful tool the exploitation of nanostructured devices and for defect analysis on a highly localized scale.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.S. Bonifacio ◽  
P. Nowakowski ◽  
M.J. Campin ◽  
M.L. Ray ◽  
P.E. Fischione

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.


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):  
H.J. Ryu ◽  
A.B. Shah ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
W.-H. Chuang ◽  
T. Tong

Abstract When failure analysis is performed on a circuit composed of FinFETs, the degree of defect isolation, in some cases, requires isolation to the fin level inside the problematic FinFET for complete understanding of root cause. This work shows successful application of electron beam alteration of current flow combined with nanoprobing for precise isolation of a defect down to fin level. To understand the mechanism of the leakage, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) slice was made along the leaky drain contact (perpendicular to fin direction) by focused ion beam thinning and lift-out. TEM image shows contact and fin. Stacking fault was found in the body of the silicon fin highlighted by the technique described in this paper.


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.


Author(s):  
J. Douglass ◽  
T. D. Myers ◽  
F. Tsai ◽  
R. Ketcheson ◽  
J. Errett

Abstract This paper describes how the authors used a combination of focused ion beam (FIB) microprobing, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and data and process analysis to determine that localized water residue was causing a 6% yield loss at die sort.


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