Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), because of its superior spatial resolution capabilities, has emerged as a powerful tool for physical analysis of semiconductor devices and defects. Microelectronics features and process defects that are invisible to scanning electron microscope and other imaging techniques can be characterized at atomic level resolution. Recent developments in instrumentation for variety of advanced TEM techniques namely, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry (EELS), Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) and Electron Holography have only made TEM more popular. This tutorial will:

• Describe basics of Transmission Electron Microscopy

• Explain the source of various contrast variations seen TEM images and how to use them to identify defects using FA case studies

• Review applications of HRTEM, EDS, EELS, EFTEM and STEM techniques