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Chad Rue
FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR, USA
Introduction
Figure 2: Cross sectional view following a 12 keV water- Figure 3: Cross sectional view of vias milled in oxide using a
assisted FIB mill on a thick copper film. This process is highly default FIB mill (no gas) at different ion energies. From left-
selective to the copper, and results in minimal erosion of the to-right, the ion energies were 30, 16, 8, and 5 keV. The
underlying dielectric material. The copper film shown in this milling of each via was performed with identical beam scan
image is about 5 m thick. A thin tungsten deposition was parameters.
performed prior to cross sectioning, to help visualize the
underlying oxide. As expected, the oxide milling rate decreases slightly with
decreasing ion energy. Next, an identical series of vias was
Although ion milling at low keV is common in TEM sample milled, except that water was directed onto the sample using a
preparation, the technique has not become commonplace for standard FEI Gas Injection system.
CE applications, despite the importance of ion energy on
chemical selectivity. This is because most commercial FIB
systems are optimized for either 30 or 50 keV, and image
resolution begins to degrade as the ion energy is reduced.
Results and Discussion Note that the mill depths observed in the water-assisted series
(Figure 4) are significantly smaller than the corresponding
depths obtained using default mill (Figure 3). We conclude
that water inhibits the rate of material removal during FIB
I. Why Water? Water is an attractive precursor for FIB GAE milling of SiO2. Figure 5 illustrates this trend as a function of
of copper for several reasons: it promotes copper surface ion energy.
oxidation during FIB milling, which reduces the channeling
effects typically associated with copper sputtering. It is
inexpensive, non toxic, and is easy to deliver into the vacuum
chamber. It has an efficient surface sticking probability, so
gas-depletion effects are less likely to occur. Finally, as
discussed below, it appears to suppress the milling rates of
various dielectric materials [4], especially at lower ion
The mill rate suppression at low ion energies is even more
0.4 dramatic. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the difference between
water-assisted and default mills at 8 keV on the
Mill Depth (um) per Dose
nitride/oxide/nitride stack.
0.3
Default Mill
Water-Assisted
0.2
0.1
0
0 10 20 30
Ion Acceleration Potential (keV)
Figure 6. Cross sectional views of vias milled into the III. Cutting Copper. The suppressed milling rates of
nitride/oxide/nitride trilayer on the top of an IC device using dielectric materials described above can be exploited during
30 keV ions. The very shallow via on the left was performed circuit edit activities. For example, an operator may perform a
using a water-assisted etch, and the via on the right was water-assisted FIB etch at low keV to safely cut a thin copper
performed using default mill (no gas) at 30 keV. line, with low risk of over-etching and damaging layers below.
To illustrate this, we milled two identical vias into an oxide
Note that the water-assisted mill on the left of Figure 6 barely substrate to expose a thin layer of copper. We then attempted
penetrates past the upper nitride layer and into the oxide, to cleanly cut the copper at the bottom of the via using water-
whereas the default mill on the right penetrates through all assisted FIB mills at 30 and 8 keV. Following the copper cut,
three dielectric materials and into the copper line below. the vias were filled with FIB-deposited tungsten and cross
Again, the presence of water appears to suppress the dielectric sectioned for analysis. The results are shown below in Figure
removal rate. 9.
with an ion energy of 30 keV. Note that the copper is removed,
but the via extends past the bottom of the copper line, and is
close to the next metal layer.
Note that both cuts appear to have been successful, in that all
of the copper has been removed. However, the cut performed
at 30 keV penetrates past the bottom of the copper line,
increasing the risk of inter-level shorting. The cut performed at
8 keV stops at the top of the Ta/TaN barrier layer, with no Figure 11. Cross sectional view of a water-assisted FIB cut of
detectable over-etch. an M1 copper line on a packaged processor device, performed
with an ion energy of 8 keV. Note that the copper is removed,
and the underlying dielectric is not breached.
IV. Cutting Copper Lines From the Backside on a Modern
Semiconductor Device. Several samples were prepared by A similar round of experiments was performed in a different
Intel to evaluate this technique for backside circuit edit on lab, using different operators and tools sets, to verify that the
packaged processor devices. The backside silicon trenching process was robust and repeatable. Sample results of this
and node access holes were performed in the typical fashion. second round of water-assisted, low keV FIB copper cutting
An M1 serpentine test structure was used as the test vehicle in are shown in Figures 12 - 14.
these experiments. A via was milled to expose the M1 test
structure in numerous locations, and then we attempted to cut
the line using a variety of techniques. The results were
consistent with the observations presented above. That is,
water-assisted FIB milling was effective at removing all of the
copper in the edit site, and lower ion energies resulted in less
over-etching. Typical examples are shown in Figures 10 and
11.
0.1
Water
0.01
Figure 14: Endpoint plot of the secondary electron intensity
versus time, obtained during a low keV water-assisted FIB Figure 15: Oxide to copper selectivity (represented as a ratio
mill of an M1 line. Note the separate peaks, presumably of the milling rates) for ions at 5 keV using different gases.
attributed to the Ta/TaN barrier layer (first peak, left) and Note that default mill conditions (no gas) have selectivity
copper line itself (second peak, right). An abrupt drop in the ratios of near unity. XeF2 promotes oxide milling, while water
secondary trace occurs when the copper line is finally cut. inhibits oxide milling.
The results shown above are encouraging indicators of the VII. Some Challenges. Low keV FIB milling has obvious
robustness of the low keV milling technique. In all, three benefits for selectivity and process control. However, there are
different FIB systems were used by two different operators some logistical difficulties associated with this technique. As
from different laboratories. A wide range of samples were the ion energy decreases, real-time visibility during the mill
examined, including automotive sensors, Sematech standard also decreases. This is due to many factors, some of which are
samples, and semiconductor processor chips at the 120 nm and inherent limitations of all charged-particle microscopes. [6]
65 nm technology nodes. From this array of samples, we were For example, at lower acceleration potentials the flight time of
able to demonstrate selective copper etching and dielectric the ions is longer, which leads to increased columbic repulsion
suppression on silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and carbon-doped and a larger beam spot size. Additionally, the energy spread of
low-k materials. In addition, very abrupt and discernable emitted ions becomes a larger fraction of the total ion energy,
endpoint signals were obtained (Figure 14), which makes it which increases chromatic distortions. As the energy of the
easier for inexperienced users to implement this technique. primary ions decreases, they also generate fewer secondary
electrons, which leads to lower signal-to-noise levels. Finally,
V. Dielectric Replacement Therapy. Various physical primary ions at lower energies are more susceptible to
mechanisms may be at work during low keV water-assisted scattering by the high gas pressures that are used during FIB
FIB milling. [5] The adsorbed water molecules may act as a processing. Examples of reduced visibility due to high gas
protective cage that encapsulates the substrate atoms. Surface
pressures and low ion energies are shown in Figures 16a and b,
respectively.
Figure 16a: Image grabs at 8 keV with gas off (left) and with
water flowing at a pressure of 2x10-5 Torr (right).
Acknowledgements
Figure 18a: Cross sectional view of vias milled at 8 keV.
The authors wish to thank Clive Chandler of FEI Company for
helpful discussions on the mechanism of dielectric etch
suppression. Mark Utlaut, Mostafa Maazouz, and John Orloff
provided helpful discussions on charged particle optics. SRIM
version 2006.02 was used for the gas scattering calculations in
this work.
Conclusions