Yield characterization of high-current ion implantation particles on 65 nm CMOS transistors

A high quantity of implant sourced surface particles do not correlate to high end-of-line missing implant yield loss. This contradiction is due to the defect metrology operations being located after the Resist Ash and Wet-Clean processes. Because the post-implant clean steps either add particles and/or detach/reattach particles; accurate defect-to-yield correlation is prevented. This paper prescribes a radical shift away from controlling implant particle quantity as the primary driver to control yield and tool availability. Instead, we detail the use of implant surface particle size as the primary driver towards increasing both yield and the interval between preventative maintenance.