A Novel FIB Method for Preparing Three Dimensional TEM Specimens

Abstract

Presently, there is an increasing demand for multi-view TEM observation of semiconductor device failure locations where the feature size of interest is smaller than the specimen thickness, and where the thin section has other features that may have high Z materials that obscure the site of interest in the TEM. Therefore, different viewing angles are necessary — such as a cross-section view of a defect-containing planar thin specimen. A major obstacle for the preparation of three dimensional specimens of this nature is specimen preparation. Great care must be taken when preparing a thin specimen from an already thin existing TEM specimen.