Focused ion beam analysis technology

In the last decade, focused ion beam (FIB) technology has been attracting attention as a tool with submicron fabrication capabilities because of increasing circuit density and decreasing feature dimension in VLSI devices. This paper introduces basic FIB functions and a number of its technological applications in the field of microelectronics such as microscopic cross-sectioning, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation, microcircuit repair and Al microstructure observation. Several examples are presented for these applications.