Low Voltage Microanalysis using Microcalorimeter EDS

Published

January 1, 2001

Author(s)

David A. Wollman, Sae Woo Nam, Gene C. Hilton, Kent D. Irwin, David A. Rudman, Norman F. Bergren, Steven Deiker, John M. Martinis, Martin Huber, Dale Newbury

Abstract

We present the current performance of the prototype high-resolution microcalorimeter energy-dispersive spectrometer (υcal EDS) developed at NIST for x-ray microanalysis. In particular, the low-energy υcal EDS designed for operation in the energy range from 0.2 keV to 2 keV, offers significant advantages for low-beam voltage (high-spatial-resolution) x-ray microanalysis for critical applications in the semiconductor industry such as particle analysis. We present several examples in which the low-energy υcal EDS has successfully solved problems important to the semiconductor industry, including analyses of small contaminant particles (Al, Al oxide, Cu) and thin films (TiN, TiO₂, o.5 wt.% Cu in Al). We also describe the future development of a large-format microcalorimeter array with significantly improved total effective area and total count rate.

Proceedings Title

Proc., 2000 Intl Conf. Characterization & Metrology for ULSI Tech.

Conference Dates

June 26-29, 2000

Conference Location

Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

microcalorimeter array, microcalorimeter energy-dispersive spectrometer, particle analysis, x-ray microanalysis

Citation

Wollman, D. , Nam, S. , Hilton, G. , Irwin, K. , Rudman, D. , Bergren, N. , Deiker, S. , Martinis, J. , Huber, M. and Newbury, D. (2001), Low Voltage Microanalysis using Microcalorimeter EDS, Proc., 2000 Intl Conf. Characterization & Metrology for ULSI Tech., Gaithersburg, MD, USA (Accessed October 8, 2025)