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3-DIMENSIONAL DOPANT PROFILING USING SCANNING CAPACITANCE MICROSCOPY

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 13429
Amount: $50,000.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1990
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
476 Ellis St
Moutain View, CA 94043
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Ian Smith
 (415) 965-2976
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

EXISTING TECHNIQUES FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE SEMICONDUCTOR DOPANT PROFILING ARE LIMITED EITHER IN SPATIAL RESOLUTION, SENSITIVITY OR ACCURACY. THE OBJECT OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO THOROUGHLY CHARACTERIZE THE CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF SCANNING CAPACITANCE MICROSCOPY FOR TRUE THREE-DIMENSIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR DOPANT PROFILING WITH SUB-MICRON SPATIAL RESOLUTION. WE AIM TO DEFINE DESIGN PARAMETERS AND BUILD PROTOTYPE HARDWARE FOR A COMMERCIAL RESEARCH INSTRUMENT BASED ON PARK SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS' CURRENT RANGE OF SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPES; THIS WILL ENABLE MORE WIDESPREAD EVALUATION OF THE TECHNIQUE BY PROCESS ENGINEERS ON THEIR OWN PROCESSES, USING DEBUGGED HARDWARE THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN OPTIMISED FOR THE APPLICATION. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE BOTH ON SIMPLE TEST STRUCTURES AS WELL AS ON TYPICAL PRODUCTION SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES AND TO COMPARE RESULTS WITH ALTERNATIVE DESTRUCTIVE AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE MEASUREMENT TEHCNIQUES AS WELL AS WITH THEORY. IN THIS EFFORT WE PLAN TO COLLABORATE EXTENSIVELY WITH LOCAL PROCESS ENGINEERS, WHO WILL PROVIDE TEST SAMPLES. WE WILL INVESTIGATE HOW ESTABLISHED CAPACITANCE FEEDBACK DEPTH PROFILING TECHNIQUES COULD BE COMBINED WITH THE SCANNING CAPACITANCE MICROSCOPE TO FURTHER EXTEND THE TECHNIQUE. THESE PHASE I ACTIVITIES WOULD PAVE THE WAY FOR A PHASE II PROGRAM TO DEVELOP ON-LINE AUTOMATED INSTRUMENTATION FOR SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS CONTROL. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - A) DEVELOPMENT OF 3-DIMENSIONAL DOPANT PROFILING WITH SUB-MICRON RESOLUTION; B) AVAILABILITY OF COMMERCIAL RESEARCH HARDWARE FOR THOROUGH CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TECHNIQUE; C) POTENTIAL USE OF THE TECHNIQUE BY THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY TO IMPROVE DEVICE AND PROCESS PERFORMANCE AND YIELD. KEY WORDS - DOPANT PROFILING, 3-DIMENSIONAL, SUB-MICRON RESOLUTION, NON-DESTRUCTIVE, SEMICONDUCTOR FABRICATION, PROCESS CONTROL

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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