Highly Sensitive Detection of Inorganic Contamination

Abstract

As the detection of inorganic contaminants is of steadily increasing importance for the improvement of yields in microelectronic applications, the aim of one of the joint research activity within the European Integrated Activity of Excellence and Networking for Nano- and Micro-Electronics Analysis (ANNA, site: www.ANNA-i3.org) is the development and assessment of new methodolo¬gies and metrologies for the detection of low concentration inorganic contaminants in silicon and in novel materials. A main objective consist in the benchmarking of various analytical techniques avail¬able in the laboratories of the participating ANNA partners, including the improvement of the res¬pective detection limits as well as the quantitation reliablity of selected analytical techniques such as total-reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis.

Comparability of TXRF Systems at Different Laboratories

“…It is obvious that the quantification in the laboratories 2 and 3 is lower than in the laboratory 1,4, and 5. The use of one set of samples, provided by both instrument manufacturers and semiconductor fab chemistry engineers, for the round robin substantiates the previously made similar observation using spin coated wafers [2]. A check of a calibration sample of the laboratories in one of the other laboratories further confirms the differences in calibration.…”

“…Inorganic contamination capabilities of the joint laboratory are Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF) using Synchrotron Radiation (SR) or X-ray tubes, Vapor Phase Decomposition (VPD) and subsequent Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GF-AAS) or Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS), and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF SIMS). Recently, discrepancies of results from different tools using TXRF for detection of metal contamination on silicon wafer surfaces were reported [1,2]. The present work compares different tools and shows the results of a round robin performed measuring different reference samples.…”

Comparability of TXRF Systems at Different Laboratories

“…Inorganic contamination capabilities of the analytical infrastructure are Total-Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF) using Synchrotron Radiation (SR) or X-ray tubes, Vapor Phase Decomposition (VPD) and subsequent Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GF-AAS) or Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS), and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Recently, discrepancies of results from different tools using TXRF for detection of metal contamination on silicon wafer surfaces were reported [1,2]. The present work compares different tools and shows the results of round robins using different reference samples.…”

A comparative analysis of different measurement techniques to monitor metal and organic contamination in silicon device processing

“…Secondary positive ions were acquired with a raster area of 30 × 30 µm 2 and acquisition time of 600 s. Both a copper‐contaminated and reference wafer were analyzed. The quantification of copper concentration was based upon measurements of wafers contaminated by spinning a contaminated solution .…”