Abstract:Testing new chemistries for mask repair with focused ion beam gas assisted etchingFocused ion beam ͑FIB͒ technology has widely been adopted as a defect repair tool on photomasks for semiconductor manufacturing. In the FIB mask repair process, scanning ion image ͑FIB image͒ is used for the defect area recognition. Quality of the FIB images is one of the most important factors in order to improve the repair accuracy. Precise imaging of the small features on the photomasks, however, is a challenging subject due t… Show more
“…In particular, gallium LMIS focused ion beam instruments (FIB) [15][16][17][18][19][20] have been widely used for microfabrication such as circuit modification, 21) mask repair, 22) and sample preparation techniques 23,24) for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM) because the brightness of the Ga-LMIS is much higher than that of other ion sources. For the past ten years, a gas field ionization source (GFIS) [25][26][27] has been used for much higher resolution observation and much higher precision fabrication because the GFIS is much brighter than the Ga-LMIS.…”
A scanning ion beam instrument equipped with a gas field ionization source (GFIS) has been commercialized, but only helium and neon are currently available as GFISs. The characteristics of krypton ion emission from a single atom tip (SAT) have not been reported yet. In this study, the characteristics of krypton ion emission were investigated by field ion microscopy. At 65 K, the krypton ion emission current reached approximately 40 pA, which is 1 order of magnitude higher than that at 130 K. As the krypton gas pressure was increased, the krypton ion current increased. At a pressure of 0.3 Pa, the emission current was anticipated to reach 200 pA, which may be high enough for nanofabrication. The variation of the krypton ion current was as low as 5% in one hour. We concluded that a krypton ion beam instrument equipped with a GFIS will be a powerful tool for nanofabrication.
“…In particular, gallium LMIS focused ion beam instruments (FIB) [15][16][17][18][19][20] have been widely used for microfabrication such as circuit modification, 21) mask repair, 22) and sample preparation techniques 23,24) for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM) because the brightness of the Ga-LMIS is much higher than that of other ion sources. For the past ten years, a gas field ionization source (GFIS) [25][26][27] has been used for much higher resolution observation and much higher precision fabrication because the GFIS is much brighter than the Ga-LMIS.…”
A scanning ion beam instrument equipped with a gas field ionization source (GFIS) has been commercialized, but only helium and neon are currently available as GFISs. The characteristics of krypton ion emission from a single atom tip (SAT) have not been reported yet. In this study, the characteristics of krypton ion emission were investigated by field ion microscopy. At 65 K, the krypton ion emission current reached approximately 40 pA, which is 1 order of magnitude higher than that at 130 K. As the krypton gas pressure was increased, the krypton ion current increased. At a pressure of 0.3 Pa, the emission current was anticipated to reach 200 pA, which may be high enough for nanofabrication. The variation of the krypton ion current was as low as 5% in one hour. We concluded that a krypton ion beam instrument equipped with a GFIS will be a powerful tool for nanofabrication.
“…The imaging doses are calculated from the corresponding pixel dwell time ranging between 5 and 300 μ s. Detailed imaging settings can be found in the Supplementary Material. Here we use two Everhart–Thornley (ET) detectors (positioned at an angle of 180° to each other) similar to the design reported by Yasaka et al (2008) with an 8 bit analog to digital converter (ADC). The gain of the detectors is adjusted by varying the acceleration voltage of the photomultiplier tube (PMT).
The recent technological advance of the gas field ion source (GFIS) and its successful integration into systems has renewed the interest in the focused ion beam (FIB) technology. Due to the atomically small source size and the use of light ions, the limitations of the liquid metal ion source are solved as device dimensions are pushed further towards the single-digit nanometer size. Helium and neon ions are the most widely used, but a large portfolio of available ion species is desirable, to allow a wide range of applications. Among argon and hydrogen, $${\rm N}_{2}^{{\plus}} $$ ions offer unique characteristics due to their covalent bond and their use as dopant for various carbon-based materials including diamond. Here, we provide a first look at the $${\rm N}_{2}^{{\plus}} $$ GFIS-FIB enabled imaging of a large selection of microscopic structures, including gold on carbon test specimen, thin metal films on insulator and nanostructured carbon-based devices, which are among the most actively researched materials in the field of nanoelectronics. The results are compared with images acquired by He+ ions, and we show that $${\rm N}_{2}^{{\plus}} $$ GFIS-FIB can offer improved material contrast even at very low imaging dose and is more sensitive to the surface roughness.
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