This U.S, non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0033433, filed on Apr. 12, 2010, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure herein relates to specimen processing apparatus and method thereof, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of processing a specimen to be analyzed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM).
2. Description of the Related Art
When a semiconductor device is manufactured, processes including a diffusion process, an oxidation process, a metal process, and so forth are repeatedly performed, accordingly depositing films of various materials, such as a metal film, a nitride film or an oxide film, on a substrate. Recently, the manufacturing process is getting complicated and scaled-down,
If a defect occurs in any of the plurality of films, abnormality consequently occurs in a semiconductor device manufactured by subsequent processes. To this end, it is necessary to cut out a specimen from a substrate under the semiconductor manufacturing process to determine a defect of a specific film using a TEM.
The present disclosure provides an apparatus and a method capable of processing an analysis specimen having a dimple shape by using a laser beam.
Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present general inventive concept.
Objects of the general inventive concept are not limited thereto. That is, other objects will be apparently understood from the following description by those skilled in the art.
Exemplary embodiments of the general inventive concept provide specimen processing apparatuses including a stage adapted to place a specimen thereon; and a laser unit disposed above the stage and adapted to laser-process the specimen,
In some exemplary embodiments, the specimen may include a preliminary specimen in intermediate processes for manufacturing of a final specimen which comprises a dimple, and the laser-processing may include cutting, grinding, dimpling, and milling of the preliminary specimen and uses a laser beam.
In other exemplary embodiments, the laser unit may include a power supply member; and a laser beam emitting member adapted to generate the laser beam using power supplied from the power supply member and emit the laser beam to the preliminary specimen, and the specimen processing apparatus may further include a controller adapted to control the power supply member to supply the laser beam emitting member with different powers according to the laser-processing.
In still other exemplary embodiments, the laser unit may further include an etching gas injecting member adapted to inject an etching gas to a laser beam emitted region of the preliminary specimen.
In even other exemplary embodiments, the laser beam emitting member may include an upper wall; a first sidewall annularly extending downward from a central part of a lower surface of the upper wall; a laser oscillator disposed at an inside of the first sidewall and adapted to generate the laser beam; an optical system disposed below the laser oscillator within the first sidewall and adapted to focus the laser beam and emit the focused laser beam to the preliminary specimen, and the etching gas injecting member may include a second sidewall annularly extending downward from a circumference of the upper wall; and a gas supply line adapted to supply the etching gas through a space formed between the first and second sidewalls.
In yet other exemplary embodiments, the specimen processing apparatus may further include a thickness measuring unit adapted to measure thickness of a bottom wall BW of the dimple being dimpled or milled by the laser unit.
In further exemplary embodiments, the thickness measuring unit may include a light emitting part adapted to emit a light to the bottom wall BW of the dimple; a light receiving part adapted to receive the light reflected from the bottom wall BW of the dimple; and an analyzing part adapted to receive a wavelength detection signal of the reflected light from the light receiving part and calculate the thickness of the bottom wall BW of the dimple varying in accordance with the wavelength of the reflected light.
In still further exemplary embodiments, the light may include a laser beam.
In even further exemplary embodiments, the specimen processing apparatus may further include a stage driver adapted to move the stage horizontally and/or vertically, and/or rotate the stage such that the stage is moved and/or rotated relative to the laser unit,
In other exemplary embodiments of the general inventive concept, specimen processing methods include (a) preparing a specimen by depositing a plurality of cut substrates; (b) cutting the specimen into a size appropriate for a sample analysis and grinding the cut specimen; (c) forming a dimple on the specimen; and (d) milling a bottom wall BW of the dimple, wherein the operations (b), (c), and (d) are performed by emitting a laser beam to the specimen.
In some exemplary embodiments, the operations (b), (c), and (d) may be performed while an etching gas is supplied to a laser beam emitted region of the specimen.
In other exemplary embodiments, the operations (b), (c), and (d) may be performed while the specimen is moved relative to a position emitting the laser beam.
In still other exemplary embodiments, the operations (c) and (d) may be performed while a thickness of the bottom wall BW of the dimple is measured by detecting a wavelength of a reflected light of a light emitted to the bottom wall BW of the dimple.
In even other exemplary embodiments, the light may include a laser beam.
In yet other exemplary embodiments, intensity of the laser beam used in the operation (d) may be smaller than intensity of the laser beam used in the operation (c).
In further exemplary embodiments, the operation (a) may include cutting a semiconductor substrate formed with patterns and a dummy substrate respectively into a rectangular shape by the laser beam; and depositing and bonding the cut dummy substrate to upper and lower parts of the cut semiconductor substrate,
In still further exemplary embodiments, the operation (b) may include firstly cutting the specimen in a deposition direction; secondly cutting the first-cut specimen into a disc shape; and grinding both sides of the second-cut specimen, wherein the first cutting, second cutting, and grinding are performed by emitting the laser beam to the specimen.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, a specimen processing apparatus to form a final specimen supported by a stage to be analyzed comprises a laser unit disposed above the stage to generate a laser beam to a surface of the specimen in response to a supplied power, and a control module to determine a specimen processing process to apply to the specimen and to control the laser unit based on the determined specimen processing process,
In still a further exemplary embodiment, a specimen processing method to form a final specimen supported by a stage to be analyzed comprises emitting a laser beam to a surface of the specimen in response to a supplied power, determining specimen processing processes to be applied to the specimen, and moving the specimen with respect to the laser beam based on the determined specimen processing process.
In another exemplary embodiment, a specimen processing method comprises forming an initial laminate specimen including a substrate layer and a dummy layer, emitting a laser beam to the initial laminate specimen, and moving the specimen with respect to the laser beam based on a sequence of specimen process procedures to form a finalized specimen to be analyzed.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the general inventive concept, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the general inventive concept and, together with the description, serve to explain principles of the general inventive concept. In the drawings:
The above and/or other features of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG, 4 shows a slicing process of a laminate specimen;
Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The exemplary embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.
The specimen processing processes may include cutting, bonding, slicing, punching, grinding, dimpling, and milling. Further, any of the above-mentioned specimen processes may be sequentially performed, A laser beam may be used to process the specimen in all the processes except the bonding. When the laser beam is emitted to the specimen, a surface temperature of the specimen quickly increases, thereby melting and evaporating part of the specimen around the surface. Constituent elements of the specimen are thus removed and accordingly the specimen processing processes are performed.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring now to
The final analysis specimen SP6 thus manufactured through the above processes is fixed by a specimen holder (not shown) and placed on a specimen stage (not shown) of a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Electron beams accelerated through a high potential difference are incident to and transmitted through the bottom wall BW of the dimple DP to analyze the final specimen SP6. Accordingly, an image is obtained from the transmitted electron beams, and a crystal structure of the image is analyzed through a diffraction pattern obtained from diffracted electron beams.
Hereinafter, a specimen processing apparatus to perform the above specimen processing processes will be described.
Referring to
The laminate specimen SP1 is loaded to the stage 100. On the stage 100, the laminate specimen SP1 is processed into the final analysis specimen SP6 sequentially through the slicing, punching, grinding, dimpling and milling process discussed in detail above. For convenience, the dimpled specimen SP5 having undergone the dimpling process is illustrated in
The stage driver 200 may linearly move the stage 100 in vertical and/or horizontal directions relative to the laser unit 300. The stage drive 200 may also rotate the stage 100 about a vertical rotation axis thereof. Accordingly, the stage driver 200 may linearly move in vertical and horizontal directions or rotate the stage 100 such that the specimen is processed by the laser unit 300 to form the specimens SP1-SP6 described in detail above,
The laser unit 300 is fixed above the stage 100 and adapted to generate a laser beam LB to perform laser-processing of the specimen placed on the stage 100. As mentioned above, the laser-processing includes the cutting, slicing, punching, grinding, dimpling, and milling using the laser beam LB generated by the laser unit 300.
An enlarged view of the laser unit 300 is illustrated in
The power supply member 320 supplies power to the laser beam emitting member 340. More specifically, the power supply member 320 may apply different powers according to particular process applied to the specimen For example, the power applied to the laser beam emitting member 340 may lower during the milling process, compared to the power supplied during the punching process.
The laser beam emitting member 340 generates a laser beam LB and emits the laser beam LB to the specimen. The laser beam emitting member 340 includes an upper wall 342, a first sidewall 344, a laser oscillator 346, and an optical system 348. The upper wall 342 may be in the form of a disc. The first sidewall 344 may annularly extend downward from a central part of a lower surface of the upper wall 342. The laser oscillator 346 is disposed at an inner upper part of the first sidewall 344 and generates the laser beam LB by using the power applied from the power supply member 320. The optical system 348 is disposed below the laser oscillator 346 within the first sidewall 344, and focuses the laser beam LB generated from the laser oscillator 346 toward to the specimen.
The etching gas injecting member 360 injects an etching gas EG to a laser beam emitted region of the specimen so as to accelerate the laser processing of the specimen. The etching gas EG injected by the etching gas injecting member may include, but is not limited to, CF4, C2F6, C3F8 or C2F6. The etching gas injecting member 360 further includes a second sidewall 362 annularly extending downward from a circumference of the upper wall 342 of the laser beam emitting member 340 to define a gas channel 343 therebetween. The etching gas is supplied to the gas channel 343 between the first sidewall 344 and the second sidewall 362 through one side of a gas supply line 364 and injected to the laser beam emitted region of the specimen through an opened lower part of the gas channel 343 between the first and second sidewalls 344 and 362. A gas supply source 366 is connected to the other side of the gas supply line 364. A valve 368 is mounted on the gas supply line 364 and is operable in an open and closed position to control the flow of gas into the gas chamber 343. In addition, a controller 500 may control the power supply 320 and the valve 368 according to the specimen process applied to the specimen. The controller 500 is discussed in greater detail below.
Although at least one exemplary embodiment illustrated in
Referring again to
The controller 500 controls the overall operations of the specimen processing apparatus 10. More specifically, the controller 500 may determine a specimen processing process applied to the specimen, and may control the stage driver 200 and the power supply member 320 of the laser unit 300 based on the determined specimen processing process. That is, the controller 500 may control the stage driver 200 to move or rotate the stage 100 relative to the laser unit 300, so that the specimen placed on the stage 100 can be processed by the laser unit 300 which is in the fixed position. For example, when the controller 500 determines that the punching process is to be applied to a specimen, the controller may control the stage driver 200 to rotate with respect to a laser beam emitted by the laser unit 300, such that that the punched specimen SP3 is formed. When the controller 500 determines that the grinding process is to be applied to a specimen, the control 500 may control the stage driver 200 to move horizontally with respect to the laser beam, such that the ground specimen SP4 is formed.
Additionally, the controller 500 may control the power supply member 320 of the laser beam 300 to adjust the intensity of the laser beam LB, and the gas ejecting member 360 to control an amount of etching gas EG injected to the specimen based on the specimen processing process. For example, when milling the specimen during the milling process, the intensity of the laser beam LB needs to be smaller than when the dimpling process is performed since the milling requires a precise surface processing. To this end, the controller 500 may control the power supply member 320 so that a lower power is applied to the laser oscillator 346 (
Hereinafter, procedures of the laser-processing the specimens SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4, and SP5 shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
As described above, the specimen processing apparatus 10 is capable of manufacturing a final analysis specimen by sequentially performing specimen processing processes using a laser beam with respect to an initial laminate specimen loaded on a stage. As a result, the final specimen manufacturing time may be reduced and the quality of the final specimen may be improved.
According to the embodiment of the general inventive concept, a dimple-shape specimen wherein a plurality of substrates are laminated may be processed by a laser beam.
In addition, a specimen processing time may be reduced while a specimen quality is improved.
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2010-0033433 | Apr 2010 | KR | national |