LEXES and SIMS as complementary techniques for full quantitative characterization of nanometer structures

A new technique, the Low energy Electron induced X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (LEXES) is used to determine dose of shallow dopants and film thicknesses; it is element selective and can resolve depth in the nanometer range. CAMECA has developed a specific instrumentation—called ‘Shallow Probe’—which adapts the LEXES to the requirements of the semiconductor industry in terms of sensitivity and reproducibility of dose and thickness measurements. The presented work reports performance of the shallow probe applied to a wide variety of dopants implanted into silicon wafers, nitrogen quantification in oxynitride barriers, as well as characterization of Si1−xGex structures.