AVS 45th International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Division Friday Sessions
       Session AS+VT-FrM

Paper AS+VT-FrM6
A New High Performance TOF-SIMS Instrument for 300 mm Wafer Inspection

Friday, November 6, 1998, 10:00 am, Room 307

Session: Application of Surface Analysis Techniques to Semiconductor Technology
Presenter: E. Niehuis, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany
Authors: E. Niehuis, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany
C. Bendel, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany
D. Rading, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have developed a high performance TOF-SIMS instrument for the analysis of wafers up to 300 mm diameter. It includes a new sample stage with 5 axis and interferometric x,y position control for ultimate navigation accuracy. The instrument is equipped with a Ga liquid metal ion gun for surface analysis and imaging, and a flexible dual source gun with electron impact and Cs source for dual beam depth profiling. In a production environment high sample throughput, high reproducibility and ease of use are most important. To meet these requirements, we implemented complete instrument automation to setup the instrument for a specific task, to find a specific area on a wafer and to acquire and analyze the data. The navigation part includes the import of coordinates from other inspection tools, an auto-heigth-adjustment and optical pattern recognition. For the interpretation of the spectra we make use of a high mass resolution SIMS database for automated compound identification. In this paper we will describe the instrument performance and discuss the various applications of this tool in IC production. TOF-SIMS can be used for the screening of various surface contaminants like trace metals (alkali, transition metals), small inorganic molecules (e.g. sulfates) as well as organic contaminants (e.g. photoresist residues, cleaning agents, plasticizers from storage containers). The technique also offers depth profiling with excellent depth resolution for the characterization of gate oxides and ultra-shallow implants. In defect review TOF-SIMS provides high lateral resolution and detailed chemical information on sub-micron particles.