The Quantitative Analysis Methodology of Charged Potential by Electron Beam Bombardment for Improving the Passive Voltage Contrast on Advanced Technology

Passive voltage contrast (PVC) using electron beam (E-beam) is the popular technique of the failure analysis procedure of real integrated circuit (IC) products. When the sample is exposed on the different energy electron beam, the surface of sample is charged positively or negatively. The charging characteristic is dependent on the secondary electron yield, but that is just qualitative analysis of charging voltage using electron beam. Because of the advancement of technology, shrinking of device and lower operation voltage, the potential that the charge induced using electron beam must be considered. This methodology described in this paper is how to quantify the charging voltage when we applied the passive voltage contrast using low energy electron beam or high energy electron beam. Based on that, we can judge if the gate was turned on by this charged potential and the passive voltage contrast will be used more efficiently, especially for the soft defect on the front-end