Advancing Quantitative Failure Analysis and Strain Measurements at the Nanoscale by Using Scanning Electron Diffraction Microscopy Enhanced by Beam Precession

Abstract The role of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) in failure analysis has been growing since the introduction of advanced technology nodes (10-nm and beyond), in which transistors (FinFET and nanosheets) have become much smaller and more complex. Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) is a new electron diffraction technique that expands conventional STEM imaging and EDX mapping to enable phase and orientation mapping of crystalline and amorphous phases in deposited thin films at the nanometer resolution. The enhancement of electron diffraction data by beam precession is then fundamental for higher accuracy and precision, especially in the case of strain measurements. The power of precession-assisted 4D-STEM analysis is demonstrated using the example of Germanium separation from within a Ge-rich GeSbTe layer in a phase memory device and with the example of tensile and compressive strain in a Samsung 5-nm technology node. These advanced electron diffraction measurements are now accessible to a broad range of users in routine analytical procedures due to unprecedented high levels of automation and synchronization in the new analytical STEM instrument, TESCAN TENSOR.