An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Junction-Isolated Electrical Test Structures for Critical Dimension Calibration Standards
Published
Author(s)
Richard A. Allen, Michael W. Cresswell, Loren W. Linholm
Abstract
NIST is developing single-crystal reference materials for use as critical dimension (CD) calibration standards. In earlier work, these structures have been electrically isolated from the substrate by the buried insulator of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. This paper describes a new method of isolating the structures from the substrate by means of a pn junction. The junction isolation technique is expected to provide several advantages over the SOI technique including minimal susceptibility to charging when imaged in a CD scanning electron microscope (CDSEM), better edge quality, and ease of manufacture. Primary calibration of these reference materials is via imaging the cross-section of the feature with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) at sufficient magnification to resolve and count the individual lattice plane while electrical test structure metrology techniques provide the transfer calibration. Secondary calibration is performed via electrical test structure metrology, supplemented by visual techniques to verify that the features meet uniformity requirements. In this paper, we describe results for determining the electrical critical dimensions of these junction-isolated structures. This measurement and data analysis technique is a unique combination of the short-bridge variation of the cross-bridge resistor and the multi-bridge structure.
Conference Dates
March 17-20, 2003
Conference Location
Monterey, CA, USA
Conference Title
2003 ICMTS IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures
Allen, R.
, Cresswell, M.
and Linholm, L.
(2003),
Junction-Isolated Electrical Test Structures for Critical Dimension Calibration Standards, 2003 ICMTS IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures, Monterey, CA, USA
(Accessed December 10, 2023)