Abstract
The crack geometry and associated strain field around Berkovich and Vickers indents on silicon have been studied by X-ray diffraction imaging and micro-Raman spectroscopy scanning. The techniques are complementary; the Raman data come from within a few micrometres of the indentation, whereas the X-ray image probes the strain field at a distance of typically tens of micrometres. For example, Raman data provide an explanation for the central contrast feature in the X-ray images of an indent. Strain relaxation from breakout and high temperature annealing are examined and it is demonstrated that millimetre length cracks, similar to those produced by mechanical damage from misaligned handling tools, can be generated in a controlled fashion by indentation within 75 micrometres of the bevel edge of 200 mm diameter wafers.
Highlights
The work described in this paper arose from a detailed study of cracks associated with robotic handling damage in silicon wafers
Rotation of the Bervovich indenter apices with respect to the in-plane crystallographic directions had almost no effect on the crack geometry, the median cracks still emerging almost parallel to the projection of the indenter apices on the surface
We have shown that finite element (FE) modelling reproduces the shape of of images taken during focused ion beam milling of the sample
Summary
The work described in this paper arose from a detailed study of cracks associated with robotic handling damage in silicon wafers. Catastrophic wafer fracture [1,2] during high temperature processing is a major problem in semiconductor manufacturing with multi-million dollar associated costs on a single production line [3]. The origin of such failure has been shown to be cracks produced at the wafer bevel edge [4,5] due to handling tool misalignment. These cracks can be millimetres in length. As an outcome of our project, commercial X-ray diffraction imaging tools are available, together with associated analytical software to predict the probability of failure and make appropriate decisions relating to the manufacturing process
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