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Three-Dimensional Nanoscale Mapping of State-of-the-Art Field-Effect Transistors (FinFETs)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2017

Pritesh Parikh ,
Corey Senowitz ,
Don Lyons ,
Isabelle Martin ,
Ty J. Prosa ,
Michael DiBattista ,
Arun Devaraj  and
Y. Shirley Meng
Pritesh Parikh
Affiliation:
Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Corey Senowitz
Affiliation:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., 5775 Morehouse Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA
Don Lyons
Affiliation:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., 5775 Morehouse Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA
Isabelle Martin
Affiliation:
CAMECA Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
Ty J. Prosa
Affiliation:
CAMECA Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
Michael DiBattista*
Affiliation:
Varioscale, Inc., 1782 La Costa Meadows Dr #103, San Marcos, CA 92078, USA
Arun Devaraj
Affiliation:
Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Y. Shirley Meng*
Affiliation:
Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
*
*Corresponding authors. miked@varioscale.com; shmeng@ucsd.edu
*Corresponding authors. miked@varioscale.com; shmeng@ucsd.edu
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Abstract

The semiconductor industry has seen tremendous progress over the last few decades with continuous reduction in transistor size to improve device performance. Miniaturization of devices has led to changes in the dopants and dielectric layers incorporated. As the gradual shift from two-dimensional metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor to three-dimensional (3D) field-effect transistors (finFETs) occurred, it has become imperative to understand compositional variability with nanoscale spatial resolution. Compositional changes can affect device performance primarily through fluctuations in threshold voltage and channel current density. Traditional techniques such as scanning electron microscope and focused ion beam no longer provide the required resolution to probe the physical structure and chemical composition of individual fins. Hence advanced multimodal characterization approaches are required to better understand electronic devices. Herein, we report the study of 14 nm commercial finFETs using atom probe tomography (APT) and scanning transmission electron microscopy–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDS). Complimentary compositional maps were obtained using both techniques with analysis of the gate dielectrics and silicon fin. APT additionally provided 3D information and allowed analysis of the distribution of low atomic number dopant elements (e.g., boron), which are elusive when using STEM-EDS.

Keywords

atom probe tomographyfinFETenergy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopychemical mappingcorrelative microscopy
Type
Materials Science Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 916 - 925
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2017 

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