Enabling Efficient Strain Analysis of Advanced Nodes with STEM Nanobeam Diffraction Enhanced by Beam Precession at Sub-2nm Spatial Resolution
Enabling Efficient Strain Analysis of Advanced Nodes with STEM Nanobeam Diffraction Enhanced by Beam Precession at Sub-2nm Spatial Resolution
Wednesday, October 7, 2026: 10:00 PM
Summary:
The dimensions of transistors become smaller while their architecture becomes more complex in 3D due to the demand for faster data processing, faster signal transmission, and decreasing power consumption. Consequently, the established and conventional analytical STEM (scanning transmission electron microscopy) techniques are stretched to or beyond their limits. Especially for strain analysis, electron diffraction mapping (4D-STEM) must be enhanced by beam precession for achieving the required precision and accuracy. However, the conventional setups with beam precession modules cannot typically reach sufficient spatial resolution. However, full integration and automation of electron beam precession in Tesan TENSOR enables very precise alignments of the microscope optics that enables strain analysis by 4D-STEM at sufficiently high spatial resolution (< 2 nm), while maintaining the advantages of fast analysis of large regions of interest (transistor circuits) in contrast to emerging alternative approaches. Moreover, the implementation of strain analysis on TENSOR enables such advanced 4D-STEM measurements to be done routinely even by regular TEM operators in semiconductor lab settings.
The dimensions of transistors become smaller while their architecture becomes more complex in 3D due to the demand for faster data processing, faster signal transmission, and decreasing power consumption. Consequently, the established and conventional analytical STEM (scanning transmission electron microscopy) techniques are stretched to or beyond their limits. Especially for strain analysis, electron diffraction mapping (4D-STEM) must be enhanced by beam precession for achieving the required precision and accuracy. However, the conventional setups with beam precession modules cannot typically reach sufficient spatial resolution. However, full integration and automation of electron beam precession in Tesan TENSOR enables very precise alignments of the microscope optics that enables strain analysis by 4D-STEM at sufficiently high spatial resolution (< 2 nm), while maintaining the advantages of fast analysis of large regions of interest (transistor circuits) in contrast to emerging alternative approaches. Moreover, the implementation of strain analysis on TENSOR enables such advanced 4D-STEM measurements to be done routinely even by regular TEM operators in semiconductor lab settings.