Using Probing Techniques to Identify and Study High Leakage Issues in the Development of 90nm Process and Below

The combined use of scanning probe microscope based techniques, namely conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) and tunneling atomic force microscopy (TUNA), and nanoprobing technique is presented. In 90nm process and below, C-AFM identifies leakage by current mapping, while TUNA measures the current-voltage (I-V) curves of different contacts to study the integrity of individual contacts. Nanoprobing is used to obtain and compare the I-V characteristics of good and leaky transistors.