As semiconductor device scaling continues to reduce the structure size, device geometries are also changing to three dimensional structures such as finFETs, and the materials which compose the devices are also evolving to obtain additional device performance gains. The material change studied in this paper is the introduction of silicon germanium into the electrically active region of a finFET test structure. The paper demonstrates a quantitative energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique through the use of blanket film calibration samples of known concentration characterized by X-ray diffraction. The technique is used to identify a test structure issue which could only be diagnosed with a technique having nanometer spatial resolution and atomic percent sensitivity. The results of the test structure analysis are independently verified by the complementary TEM electron energy loss spectroscopy technique.

Different epitaxial structures have been studied by high-resolution x-ray diffraction and x-ray topography, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy to establish correlations between epitaxial growth conditions and crystal perfection. It was confirmed that epitaxial growth under initial elastic stress inevitably leads to the creation of extended crystal defects like dislocation loops and edge dislocations in the volume of epitaxial structures, which strongly affect crystal perfection and physical properties of future devices. It was found that the type of created defects, their density and spatial distribution strongly depended on growth conditions: the value and sign of the initial elastic strain, the elastic constants of solid solutions, the temperature of deposition and growth rate, and the thickness of the epitaxial layers. All of the investigated structures were classified by their crystal perfection, using the volume density of extended defects as a parameter. It was found that the accommodation and relaxation of initial elastic stress and creation of crystal defect were up to four stages “chain” processes, necessary to stabilize the crystal structure at a level corresponding to the deterioration power of particular growth conditions.