Haxpes Studies Of Advanced Semiconductors

During the past decade, the semiconductor industry has experienced an unprecedented paradigm shift toward focused materials screening in order to keep pace with the rapid rate of device scaling dictated by Moore's Law. In addition, new device architectures have evolved that place greater demands on physical characterization techniques to interrogate subtle materials intermixing at buried interfaces. In this chapter, we demonstrate the general utility of HAXPES to probe sample materials representative of advanced semiconductor devices, thereby elucidating specific bonding configurations that limit electrical performance. HAXPES provides several distinct advantages for the analysis of advanced semiconductor devices; notably, the ability to probe structures of technologically relevant thicknesses and to tune the photoelectron depth sensitivity to measure changes with depth. Studies presented here include the influence of anneal temperature on transistor high-k gate dielectric layers deposited on both Si and high mobility SiGe and InGaAs substrates, substrate passivation processes, novel low resistivity metal contact formation, and the oxygen redistribution phenomenon associated with advanced memory structures. As materials and devices continue to evolve, it is clear that HAXPES will play a significant role in the successful integration of advanced devices into high volume manufacturing.