An ultra-short pulse current–voltage (I–V) measurement technique has been applied to high-κ gate transistors to investigate the effects of fast transient charging. It is shown that the fast electron trapping may contribute to the degradation of transistor performance (i.e., low mobility) observed with direct current (DC) characterization methods, as well as pulse techniques in the tens of microseconds range and above. In particular, in the samples with significant electron trapping, the drain current in the saturation regime is shown to improve by up to 40% from its DC values when the characterization is performed with pulse I–V measurements in the nanosecond range.
Radio frequency (rf) power is commonly applied to the chuck of a high-density plasma reactor in order to extract ions and to control the energy of the ions used for the fabrication of microelectronic devices. In many cases, the temporal shape of the rf wave form largely determines the shape of the spectrum of those extracted ions, thereby strongly affecting feature evolution. Using auxiliary rf circuits, we successfully made major changes to the rf-potential wave form at the chuck of an Applied Materials 5300 HDP Omega reactor without affecting the normal functioning of the reactor’s control systems. This work established the practical feasibility of techniques for modifying the ion energy distribution functions of industrial reactors.
An Electric-field (E-field) exposure tool for Photomasks was designed, assembled, then utilized to subject 250 nanometer technology node reticles to variable electric fields. A similar study had been demonstrated using the Canary™ Reticle [1]. The goal was to induce an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), and attempt to damage the reticle's chrome structures via the Field Induced Damage Model. Electrostatic Discharge emits a radio wave in the 100 MHz to 2.0 GHz frequency range, which can be detected using a Digital Sampling Oscilloscope and antenna [2]. Once detected via radio wave sampling techniques, the Field Induced Damage is evaluated on a KLA STARlight™ inspection tool, and a damage map provided. A Digital Instruments Atomic Force Microscope utilizes the damage map to locate defects for further evaluation.
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