A study on surface charging reduction in Auger electron spectroscopy

In this paper, a simple method of charge reduction on the surface of an insulating sample and its usefulness in the analysis of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) data is presented. Surface charge build up can give rise to an AES spectrum with poor signal to noise ratio, spurious peaks and shift in peak energy. In a recent study of Au fingers on a printed circuit board (PCB), heavy charging was observed. Focused ion beam (FIB) technique was used to deposit and pattern Pt wires (∼ 0.5μm thick) such that an electrical conduction path is created from the Au finger to neighboring Al foils. The merits of the technique are discussed in this paper, especially in the context of miniature sized features often encountered in microelectronics industry.