Method and system for imaging a cross section of a specimen
AssigneeApplied Materials Israel Ltd.
InventorDror Shemesh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and a system for obtaining an image of a cross section of a specimen, the method includes: milling the specimen so as to expose a cross section of the specimen, in which the cross section comprises at least one first portion made of a first material and at least one second portion made of a second material; smoothing the cross section; performing gas assisted etching of the cross section so as generate a topography difference between the at least one first portion and the at least one second portion of the cross section; coating the cross section with a thin layer of conductive material; and obtaining an image of the cross section; wherein the milling, smoothing, performing, coating and obtaining are performed while the specimen is placed in a vacuum chamber.
Claims21
A method for obtaining an image of a cross section of a specimen, the method comprising:
- milling the specimen using an electron beam at a first acceleration voltage generated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column so as to expose a cross section of the specimen, wherein the cross section comprises at least one first portion made of a first material and at least one second portion made of a second material;
- thereafter
- smoothing the cross section using an electron beam at a second acceleration voltage generated by the SEM column, the second acceleration voltage being less than the first acceleration voltage;
- performing gas assisted etching of the cross section so as to generate a topography difference between the at least one first portion and the at least one second portion of the cross section;
- coating the cross section with a thin layer of conductive material;
- and
- obtaining the image of the cross section using a focused ion beam generated by a focused ion beam (FIB) column, wherein the SEM column and the FIB column are coupled to a vacuum chamber, and the steps of milling, smoothing, performing, coating and obtaining are performed while the specimen is located in the vacuum chamber.
A method for obtaining an image of a cross section of a specimen, the method comprising:
- milling the specimen using a focused ion beam at a first acceleration voltage generated by a focused ion beam (FIB) column so as to expose a cross section of the specimen, wherein the cross section comprises at least one first portion made of a first material and at least one second portion made of a second material;
- thereafter
- smoothing the cross section using a focused ion beam at a second acceleration voltage generated by the FIB column, the second acceleration voltage being less than the first acceleration voltage;
- performing gas assisted etching of the cross section so as to generate a topography difference between the at least one first portion and the at least one second portion of the cross section;
- coating the cross section with a thin layer of conductive material;
- and
- obtaining the image of the cross section using an electron beam generated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column, wherein the SEM column and the FIB column are coupled to a vacuum chamber and positioned substantially parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other, and the steps of milling, smoothing, performing, coating and obtaining are performed while the specimen is located in the vacuum chamber, and wherein the method comprises moving the specimen between a location in which the specimen is within a field of view of the SEM column to a location in which the specimen is located within a field of view of the FIB column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.