A simple and nondestructive low energy electron beam surface SEM is used in-line to measure the active width with LOCOS isolation. The method resulted in photos with excellent contrast between the silicon and oxide. Also a good correlation between the surface SEM data and electrical measurements is obtained in the submicron region where the active width reduction is a strong function of the LOCOS nitride width. The method can be used to significantly reduce the technology development time by accurately measuring the active width in-line.

Date Published: 15 September 1995
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2636, Microelectronic Device and Multilevel Interconnection Technology, (15 September 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.221135

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2636:
Microelectronic Device and Multilevel Interconnection Technology
Ih-Chin Chen; Girish A. Dixit; Trung Tri Doan; Nobuo Sasaki, Editor(s)