Preparation Method of Plan-View Transmission Electron Microscopy Specimen of the Cu Thin-Film Layer on Silicon Substrate Using the Focused Ion Beam with Gas-Assisted Etch

Abstract

Gas-assisted etching (GAE) with focused ion beam (FIB) was applied to prepare plan-view specimens of Cu thin-layer on a silicon substrate for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). GAE using XeF2 gas selectively etched the silicon substrate without volume loss of the Cu thin-layer. The plan-view specimen of the Cu thin film prepared by FIB milling with GAE was observed by scanning electron microscopy and CS -corrected high-resolution TEM to estimate the size and microstructure of the TEM specimen. The GAE with FIB technique overcame various artifacts of conventional FIB milling technique such as bending, shrinking and non-uniform thickness of the TEM specimens. The Cu thin film was uniform in thickness and relatively larger in size despite of the thickness of <200 nm.