New FIB-supported approaches for EELS-capable TEM-lamella preparation

As the size of state-of-the-art low-power CMOS ICs continues to decrease, the corresponding size of some lethal defects has fallen below the resolution limits of conventional field emission SEMs and has made energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis unreliable by requiring the sampling of very small interaction volumes. Consequently, TEM investigations of thin oxides and interfaces of semiconductor device structures, in conjunction with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) have become increasingly important. However, only a few semiconductor failure analysis (FA) laboratories are ready to cope with conventional TEM preparation methods. This paper gives an overview of how focused ion beams (FIB) can be used to prepare TEM samples suitable for structural and EELS studies.