Observation of high aspect ratio (HAR) structures is a difficult challenge in metrology and inspection in semiconductor manufacturing. In imaging HAR trenches using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), obtaining SEM images without information loss due to whiteouts and blackouts is challenging. One reason for the difficulty is that the probe current is constant in conventional SEM imaging. Suppose the probe current is increased to detect more secondary electrons from the bottom of the trench. In that case, excessive secondary electron emission from the top of the trench will result in a whiteout. The SEM equipped with a photocathode electron gun (PC-SEM) can change the probe current on a pixel-by-pixel basis by applying a pulsed electron beam. In this study, we propose two methods of SEM observation for HAR trenches. The first method uses a lower probe current at the top of the trench and a higher probe current at the bottom. With this method, the top and bottom of the trench could be observed simultaneously without any whiteout or blackout. Another method is to adjust the probe current so that the SEM image is in a constant grayscale. In this case, information about the sample appears in the probe current. The image of the probe current captured the trench bottom more clearly than the conventional SEM image under equivalent conditions.
KEYWORDS: Electron beams, Semiconductors, Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Laser irradiation, Semiconductor materials, Group III-V semiconductors, Electron microscopes, Vacuum
Semiconductor photocathodes are electron beam sources with versatile electron beam performance such as pulsed structure as well as high beam current with high monochromaticity. Photocathode using GaN semiconductor material has solved the durability problem, resulting in the development of a compact photocathode electron gun suitable for industrial technology. The photocathode electron gun can be retrofitted to existing electron microscopes, has the same brightness as a cold field emitter cathode, and the pulsed beam not only brings selective beam irradiation to arbitrary area in the field of view in SEM imaging, but also allows blur-free TEM imaging of moving samples.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used for metrology and inspection in semiconductor manufacturing. In addition, electrical defects such as short circuits and unintentional insulation appear as contrast differences called voltage contrast (VC) in SEM under low acceleration voltage conditions. Moreover, by using pulsed electron beams from a photocathode, the probe current can be arbitrarily changed by pixel in the SEM image. Using this technology, we succeeded in observing the change in the VC of the drain in the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) by changing in electron beam irradiation on the gate only. In this study, to estimate the threshold voltage of n-type MOSFET (nMOS) from VC, we investigated quantitative changes in the specimen current of the drain (Id) and the gate (Ig) due to gate e-beam irradiation ON/OFF during SEM imaging. The landing energy of the electron beam was set to 0.8 keV, the probe current was 6.3 pA, and the e-beam was irradiated onto only the gate and drain electrodes. Id and Ig, which showed a positive value at the beginning, decreased with time, and saturated at negative values. When the electron beam irradiation to the gate was turned OFF, the Id decreased further and reached saturation. When the gate e-beam irradiation was turned ON again, Ig recovered to a positive and then saturated again to a negative value. On the other hand, the drain Id increased when the gate irradiation was turned ON and returned to the same value as before it was turned OFF.
An InGaN photocathode with a negative electron affinity (NEA) surface is suitable for industrial use because of features such as a long quantum efficiency lifetime, availability with a visible laser as an excitation light source, and the presence of a transmission-type structure. The first objective is the development of an InGaN photocathode electron gun that can be mounted on a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the evaluation of the electron beam size at the emission point, maximum emission current, and transverse energy of the electron beam, which are important factors for realizing a high probe current in the SEM. The second objective is the evaluation of emission current stability, while the third objective is the generation of a pulsed electron beam and multi-electron beam from the InGaN photocathode. The parameters of the electron beam from the photocathode electron gun were an emission beam radius of 1 μm, transverse energy of 44 meV, and an emission current of up to 110 μA. Using a high beam current with low transverse energy from the photocathode, a 13 nA probe current with 10 nm SEM resolution was observed with 15 μA emission. At 15 μA, the continuous electron beam emission for 1300 h was confirmed; at 30 μA, the cycle time between the NEA surface reactivations was confirmed to be 90 h with 0.043% stability. Moreover, a 4.4 ns pulsed e-beam with a 4.7 mA beam current was generated, and a 5 × 5 multielectron beam with 12% uniformity was then obtained. The advantages of the InGaN photocathode, such as high electron beam current, low transverse energy, long quantum efficiency lifetime, pulsed electron beam, and multi-electron beam, are useful in industries including semiconductor device inspection tools.
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) with photocathode technology was launched by retrofitting the photocathode electron gun to a commercial-based SEM system. In this SEM system, the excitation laser for photoelectron generation from the photocathode is synchronized to the scanning signal. SEM images were obtained by high-speed modulation of the photoelectron beam current using the photocathode SEM, where the location in the field of view and its irradiation current were arbitrarily selected on a pixel-by-pixel basis (Selective e-Beaming technology). As a demonstration experiment contributing to non-contact electrical inspection, low-voltage SEM imaging of MOS-FET structures in 3D-NAND flash memory was performed using this selective e-beam technology. As a result, changes in the voltage contrast of the drain electrode were observed in response to on/off selective electron beam irradiation to the gate electrode in the MOS-FET structure. As an extension of the selective electron beaming technology, a Yield Controlled e-beaming (YCeB) technology was invented to control the secondary electron yield generated in the entire field of view of the SEM image by feedback control of the laser power irradiating the photocathode to the intensity of each pixel in the SEM image. The YCeB image, in which the laser power intensity corresponding to the probe intensity is modulated so that the secondary electron yield generated in the entire field of view of the SEM image is constant, is a clearer image with less noise than the original SEM image.
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