Preparation method for TEM sample

Abstract

Disclosed in the invention is a preparation method for a TEM sample. An inclined cutting opening is formed in a chip sample surface by using an ion beam and level removing and TEM sample preparation are carried out on a target area position directly, so that time for TEM sample preparation is substantially shortened; and the position and depth for level removing are controlled precisely, so that the success rate of sample preparation and the quality of the sample are improved. And the chip sample is protected from being damaged.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the technical field of integrated circuit sample analysis, and more specifically, to a method for preparing a TEM sample. Background technique [0002] TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) has a wide range of applications in various fields including integrated circuit sample analysis, and double-beam focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation is the most important TEM sample preparation method in the semiconductor field. . [0003] Since the size of the TEM sample is very small, only on the micron level, in order to better control the thickness of the TEM sample, it is generally required that the surface of the chip sample is about 0.1-0.5 microns away from the target analysis structure below it before the FIB sample preparation starts. However, due to the different process steps of many chip samples, there are often thick multi-layer materials above the target analysis structure, which causes the phenomenon that the sample s...

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Problems solved by technology

[0007] 1. The time required for the entire TEM sample preparation will increase by about 0.5-2 hours due to additional grinding, chemical solution treatment or reactive ion etching steps (about 50%-200% increase in sample preparation time);

[0008] 2. The process of grinding and chemical solution treatment is difficult to control accurately, and sometimes it will cause sample damage, such as over-grinding, scratches, lobes, rough surface, etc.;

[0009] 3. For chip samples that cannot be degraded and then used for FIB sample preparation, such as chips for reverse engineering or structural analysis, the success rate and quality of sample preparation will decrease

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