In this paper, a sample was made on an advanced technology node finFET test structure and analyzed in a 200kV TEM equipped with a 4k camera and commercially available strain analysis software using a sub 5nm parallel probe. It was observed that doubling the step size of the data acquisition from 5nm per step to 2.5nm per step with a 4k image resolution changed the sensitivity of the data by about 4%. However, increasing the number of pixels of each diffraction pattern from 2k to 4k and removing the focused ion beam prepared sample surface damage both showed greater than 10% improvements in nano beam electron diffraction (NBD) sensitivity greater than 10%. As a result, it is possible to obtain greater sensitivity of the NBD technique by employing these changes in response to the evolving characterization needs.

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.

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) is a key analytical tool aiding root cause determination in the failure analysis (FA) process. This paper looks at a number of analytical TEM microscopes currently in use in various facilities: microscope A, a STEM operated at 200kV; microscope B, a 300kV TEM; and microscopes C and D, both 200kV TEMs. EDS counts per unit time from multiple microscope platforms were examined. Microscope D demonstrated two orders of magnitude higher counts per unit time than the other three microscopes. Microscope D represents the state-of-the-art EDS analytical TEM configuration and has achieved this through a novel windowless EDS configuration which significantly increases the detector area (by about a factor of three) that receives X-rays generated from the sample.

Contrary to known art, we have discovered that lubricated tin-silver connectors have better electrical performance and are more reliable than lubricated silver-silver connectors under high-current and high-vibration conditions. The antifretting lubricant, that enhances the performance and reliability of the tin-silver connectors, is a grease consisting of a hydrocarbon oil in a nano-sized silica-particle base. Focused ion beam and scanning electron microscopy were used to understand the contact degradation mechanism. The superior electrical performance and reliability of the lubricated tin-silver connectors is due to a mechanism that replaces the tin plating from the contact surface with a coating of silver. The removal of the tin plating may be due to wear and the replacement by the silver coating may be due to an electrochemical displacement reaction.