A novel application of the FIB lift-out technique for 3-D TEM analysis

As integrated circuits (IC) become more complex and device features shrink into the deep sub-micron range, the need for preparing high precision cross -sections for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has increased signific antly. This has been responsible Br the ubiquitous use of focused ion beam (FIB) for TEM sample preparation. Several TEM sample preparation techniques using FIB, such as pre-thinning, lift-out and micro-sampling techniques ha ve been published. The FIB lift-out technique allows thin membranes to be e xtracted from bulk material, which saves a lot of sample pre-thinning time and is very successful in the preparation of specific area cross-sections a nd planar samples. In this paper, the lift-out technique is extended to all ow for TEM analysis to obtain defect information in 3-dimensions, i.e., a m ethod for preparing a TEM cross-section of a TEM plan view (or cross-sectio n) is described. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.