This paper reports scanning microwave microscopy of CMOS interconnect aluminum lines both bare and buried under oxide. In both cases, a spatial resolution of 190 ± 70 nm was achieved, which was comparable or better than what had been reported in the literature. With the lines immersed in water to simulate high-k dielectric, the signal-to-noise ratio degraded significantly, but the image remained as sharp as before, especially after averaging across a few adjacent scans. These results imply that scanning microwave microscopy can be a promising technique for non-destructive nano-characterization of both CMOS interconnects buried under oxide and live biological samples immersed in water.
Scanning microwave microscopy of buried CMOS interconnect lines with nanometer resolution / Jin, Xin; Xiong, Kuanchen; Marstell, Roderick; Strandwitz, Nicholas C.; Hwang, James C. M.; Farina, Marco; Göritz, Alexander; Wietstruck, Matthias; Kaynak, Mehmet. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES. - ISSN 1759-0787. - (2018), pp. 556-561. [10.1017/S1759078718000181]
Scanning microwave microscopy of buried CMOS interconnect lines with nanometer resolution
Marco Farina;
2018-01-01
Abstract
This paper reports scanning microwave microscopy of CMOS interconnect aluminum lines both bare and buried under oxide. In both cases, a spatial resolution of 190 ± 70 nm was achieved, which was comparable or better than what had been reported in the literature. With the lines immersed in water to simulate high-k dielectric, the signal-to-noise ratio degraded significantly, but the image remained as sharp as before, especially after averaging across a few adjacent scans. These results imply that scanning microwave microscopy can be a promising technique for non-destructive nano-characterization of both CMOS interconnects buried under oxide and live biological samples immersed in water.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.