Cu penetration into low-k dielectrics can cause serious reliability issues in on-chip interconnect systems. Using secondary ion mass spectrometry with both front-side and back-side depth profiling strategies, Cu was found to diffuse into SiCOH low-k dielectric in a Cu/SiCOH/Si capacitor during Cu deposition. After bias-temperature stressing the capacitor at 270 °C and 2.5 MV/cm, Cu penetrates further into SiCOH, but its distribution profile is the same as that after the same temperature annealing without electrical bias, suggesting no Cu ion drift. The implication of these findings on the Cu/low-k dielectric time-dependent dielectric breakdown modeling is discussed.
A scanning force microscope tip is used to write ferroelectric domains in He-implanted singlecrystal lithium niobate and subsequently probe them by piezoresponse force microscopy. Investigation of cross-sections of the samples showed that the buried implanted layer, ∼ 1 µm below the surface, is non-ferroelectric and can thus act as a barrier to domain growth. This barrier enabled stable surface domains of < 1 µm size to be written in 500 µm-thick crystal substrates with voltage pulses of only 10 V applied to the tip.
Effects of substrate temperature and annealing temperature on the formation and properties of erbium silicide layers synthesized by high current Er ion implantation J. Appl. Phys. 94, 157 (2003); 10.1063/1.1573346 Characterization of hydrogen etched 6H-SiC(0001) substrates and subsequently grown AlN films
The continued research and development effort on silicon ultrashallow junctions has posed a great challenge to materials characterization, due to the need for depth profiling of dopants and silicon lattice defects with a subnanometer resolution. In this work, we report on a method combining ion beam analysis (Rutherford backscattering, ion channeling, and nuclear reaction analysis) with room-temperature UV-assisted oxidation and chemical wet etching for obtaining high-resolution (∼0.5 nm) depth distributions of total boron atoms, electrically activated boron atoms and silicon lattice defects in silicon ultrashallow junctions. The application of this method was demonstrated by profiling silicon junctions as shallow as 8 nm, created by 200-eV boron ion implantation followed annealing by various techniques. The capability to profile boron at such high resolution has resulted in observation of boron segregation. Additionally, the ability for depth profiling Si lattice defects offered by this method has aided in the understanding of thermal and laser annealing effects on defect formation in Si junctions. Our experimental results are compared with those obtained using other techniques such as secondary ion mass spectroscopy and four-point probe, and differences are discussed in detail.
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