HOW TO ANALYZE HIGH-ASPECT-RATIO PITS WITH THE COAXIAL SCANNING AUGERMICROPROBE

A new technique has solved the problem of Auger analysis of high-aspec t ratio pits. The nondestructive analysis of these micron-size pits is important for the development of gigabit memory chips. Very suitable for the analysis is the coaxial scanning Auger microprobe (SAM), the e lectron gun of which is coaxial with the cylindrical-mirror analyzer ( CMA). However, this SAM could not probe the bottom of a high-aspect ra tio pit because the Auger signal is trapped in the pit. The solution t o the problem was the use of an electrostatic deflector attached to th e sample mount in front of the CMA. Theory and experiments proved the advantage of this technique.