Abstract With semiconductor geometries approaching sub 10 nanometer gate levels in the not too distant future and with higher levels of integration, new ways of characterizing defects and examining the 3D distribution visually and elementally on the nanometer level are required to keep up with the demands of the modern FA lab. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the workflow and show the results of an automated 3D STEM-EDX data acquisition & visualization system that can be utilized for the failure analysis of semiconductor devices.

Abstract We perform the in-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) study of current capacity of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) suspended between two electrodes in vacuum. At an average current density of 4×10 6 A/cm 2 , CNFs show breakdown due to current stress. Current-induced failure results in many voids between graphitic layers in CNF, indicating that the structure of CNFs strongly affects their failure mechanism due to high current stress. These findings provide the insight of the failure mode of future carbon-based interconnects.

Abstract This paper introduces a technique to reveal a small feature defect of an SRAM cell via utilizing a 200kV dedicated field emission STEM on a FIB prepared sample. The initial TEM sample contains the entire defective cell; one side of the sample has n-type transistors and the other p-type. Both sides of the sample were observed using STEM bright field and dark field (HAADF) detectors (transmitted beam – inner information) and SEM mode (surface and sub-surface information). With deep beam penetration of STEM, one contact was found to be very close to the poly gate. Further FIB cuts were performed to remove the rest of the bulk away from the defect, thinning down to the area of interest. When the sample was thinned to a final thickness of less than ~100nm, a final image was taken of the exposed defect. The failing root cause was that the upper corner of the poly had touched the adjacent contact. Such an approach offers many unique advantages for site specific failure analysis over conventional SEM and/or TEM techniques.