Abstract
A novel technique for electron-beam induced etching has been integrated into an e-beam probe station. Measurement windows are etched into insulation layers on IC's enabling direct e-beam probing on buried or passivated conductors of integrated circuits. Sample preparation by focused-ion-beam or chemical removal of passivation layers are no longer necessary. Measurement windows of 2μm × 2μm are etched into 1 μm passivation in less than one minute. The etch rate thus is approximately 5 μm 3/min. Etching of insulator material such as SiO 2, Si 3N 4 and polyimide has been demonstrated. Voltage signals can thus be accurately probed, e.g. through an etched window of 3μm × 3 μm diameter and 2.5 μm depth on a buried line of 2μm width. The novel etch tool is a part of the regular e-beam probing procedure. E-beam probing thus remains a versatile technique, especially for the analysis of high density and high frequency circuits.
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