Atom-probe for FinFET dopant characterization

With the continuous shrinking of transistors and advent of new transistor architectures to keep in pace with Moore's law and ITRS goals, there is a rising interest in multigate 3D-devices like FinFETs where the channel is surrounded by gates on multiple surfaces. The performance of these devices depends on the dimensions and the spatial distribution of dopants in source/drain regions of the device. As a result there is a need for new metrology approach/technique to characterize quantitatively the dopant distribution in these devices with nanometer precision in 3D.In recent years, atom probe tomography (APT) has shown its ability to analyze semiconductor and thin insulator materials effectively with sub-nm resolution in 3D. In this paper we will discuss the methodology used to study FinFET-based structures using APT. Whereas challenges and solutions for sample preparation linked to the limited fin dimensions already have been reported before, we report here an approach to prepare fin structures for APT, which based on their processing history (trenches filled with Si) are in principle invisible in FIB and SEM. Hence alternative solutions in locating and positioning them on the APT-tip are presented. We also report on the use of the atom probe results on FinFETs to understand the role of different dopant implantation angles (10° and 45°) when attempting conformal doping of FinFETs and provide a quantitative comparison with alternative approaches such as 1D secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and theoretical model values.

Research highlights
► This paper provides the information on how to characterize the FinFET devices using atom probe tomography (APT).
► Importance of this work is to assess the performance of these devices at different processing conditions by extracting the compositional profiles.
► The performance of these devices depends on the dimensions and the spatial distribution of dopants in source/drain regions.
► In this publication we reported on the issues involved in probing these devices using APT and how we were able to overcome the few challenges in this regard.
► We also report on the use of the APT results on FinFETs to understand the role of different dopant implantation angles (10° and 45°).
► The quantitative comparison with alternative approaches such as 1D secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and theoretical model values were presented.