Topography induced by sputtering in a magnetic sector instrument: an AFM and SEM study

Due to the sensitivity, the good depth resolution and the great interest in ultra shallow profile, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is one of the prime techniques used in the semiconductor industry. Low impact energy beams are required to profile shallow distributions. Since Csþ beam sputtering can cause morphological artifacts as well as O2þ beam does, a detailed study is required to understand development and limiting analytical conditions. In this work we analyzed the effect of low energy Csþ primary beam incident at 688 and 788 on different silicon samples. By using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) we underline their reliability and correlate the morphological effects to the SIMS analytical parameters and samples characteristics.