Y. Zhao, Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corp, Beijing, China

Summary: Grain size monitor of Al pad monitor is necessary to assure pad quality and electrical performance in IC manufacturing. Currently, the sample was prepared either without pretreatment or with 4.9% HF stain or ion milling before grain size measurement. In this paper, we demonstrated the pretreatment has pronounced effect on the grain size measurement and the method with ion milling pretreatment show more reliable results. The mechanism is further discussed.