C. H. H. Kang, M. Gribelyuk, IBM Systems & Technology, Hopewell Junction, NY; C. Senowitz, FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR

Summary: There is a high level of interest on the 300mm wafer processing line in obtaining defect analysis with fast turn around time, while preserving wafers. As the size of killer defects continues to shrink, conventional in-line characterization methods are failing to provide answers required by the semiconductor industry. Transmission electron microscopy is becoming more important than ever for obtaining high resolution images and high materials contrast. Cross-sectional style TEM sample preparation techniques by DualBeam FIB systems have been introduced, and are widely used in both laboratory and manufacturing lines with either in-situ or ex-situ plucking methods. By contrast, however, the plan view TEM sample has only been prepared in the laboratory environmental, and only after breaking the wafer. In this paper we introduce for the first time a new methodology for in-line plan view TEM sample preparation at the 300mm wafer level that does not require breaking the wafer. This novel TEM sample preparation technique allows investigation of in-plan defects that are not otherwise easily imaged.