Wafer Conserving Full Range Construction Analysis for IC Fabrication and Process Development Based on FIB/Dual Beam Inline Application

Abstract

The step into the production line environment is a quantum leap for physical failure analysis (PFA) and will change its work in the near future. Wafer sacrifice for analysis becomes obsolete. The main benefits are: 1. reduction of wafer costs, 2. more splits per development lot, 3. reduced cycle time of analysis and technology development. Machines needed for that purpose are dual beam SEM/FIB tools. In the following we present solutions how PFA in a broad range can be carried out inside of a production line. The analyzed wafers can be fed back into the production flow which results in lower overall costs and the feedback loop to production engineers is dramatically shortened leading to reduced down times of production tools etc. The highest risk that has kept the majority of semiconductor manufacturers from proceeding into this direction is the contamination of the productive wafer with Ga, the FIB beam particle, that may diffuse into productive parts of the wafer during heat cycles after the analysis step. We show that the risk of contamination by Ga and other materials can be controlled.