Interaction of inline SEM inspections with tungsten window-1 integrity were investigated. Multiple SEMs were utilized and various points in the processing were inspected. It was found that in certain circumstances inline SEM inspection induced increased window-1 contact resistance in both source/drain and gate contacts, up to and including electrical opens for the source/drain contacts.

contact resistance, electrical breakdown, failure analysis, integrated circuit processing, scanning electron microscope, tungsten windows
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Copyright © 2004 ASM International. All rights reserved.
2004
ASM International
Topics
Scanning electron microscopy Semiconductor wafer fabrication Dielectric breakdown Contact resistance Tungsten
Issue Section:
Metrology and Materials Analysis
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