Electrical Characterizations through a Nanoprobing System Installed in a FESEM

Antonio D’ORECCHIA, CNIS Sapienza Università di Roma - Mattia SILVESTRE, LFoundry

Electronic devices are drastically scaling down, and the technology nodes have reached the nanometric range. In a manufacturing context, the Failure Analysis sector assumes a front rank position. Failure Analysis is the fab field specialized in the identification of failing devices in integrated circuits, in making hypotheses on the possible causes, in verifying them with inspection techniques and, lastly, in providing a feedback to the production line. More and more specific and complex techniques are engineered, and the nanoprobing technique belongs to this expansive class. The “nanoprobing” term  includes a series of experimental procedures intended to the employment of nano-tips, and requires advanced instrumentation as the atomic force microscope, the scanning electron microscope and nano-manipulation systems. The nanoprobing techniques play a crucial role in Failure Analysis because they allow improved contrast imaging and I-V characterization measurements on nano-devices, fundamental for failure localization on the x-y plane and for making the first theoretical considerations on its nature. Complementary techniques, like focused ion beam cross-sectioning and transmission electron microscopy, permit eventually to prove the failing causes on the basis of nanoprobing fail detection, completing the defect localization on the z axis.

In this lecture, a theoretical description of the nanoprobing characterization for electrical measurements will be done. Hereafter, a SEM-based nanoprobing system will be thoroughly illustrated. The system has a modular structure and it is composed by assorted instrumentation, with the conjunction of hardware blocks and software elements. At the end, an evaluation of electrical tests at nanoscale will be performed, emphasizing on the results, the issues and potential solutions.

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