Streamlining Sample Preparation of Semiconductor Materials with a New Site-specific Cleaving Technology
| Autor: | E. Moyal, Jamil J. Clarke, J. Teshima |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
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| Zdroj: | Microscopy Today. 21:22-26 |
| ISSN: | 2150-3583 1551-9295 |
| Popis: | Introduction The global consumer market wants smaller, faster, more reliable, lower-cost products. The semiconductor industry has responded by the doubling of chip transistor density every two years, closely following Moore’s Law. To meet their goals, the industry has made huge investments in R&D and manufacturing to miniaturize components, increase the size of substrates (wafers), improve the productivity of factories, and invent new packaging technology [1]. Equipment suppliers have responded with new production and metrology tools that synthesize novel materials and measure their critical dimensions. To support this rapid development, characterization laboratories are adapting by improving capabilities and turnaround time. As mundane as it might sound, sample preparation for analysis in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) often can be in the critical path between development engineers and the essential data they need. Given the range of sample types in silicon device technology, no single technique or laboratory tool can provide the answer for all demands, when considering accuracy, quality, throughput, ease of use, and cost. The sample preparation engineer in the laboratory must develop a process from available tools or add to the toolbox. Much effort is expended to make sure that the sample preparation process delivers data that does not alter the sample structure or material properties. This article discusses the role of cleaving in the semiconductor sample preparation workflow for imaging or chemically analyzing bulk samples and introduces a new tool, the LatticeAxTM cleaver. Two case studies show the effectiveness of the technique. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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