Nano-Raman: Monitoring nanoscale stress

Due to the new challenges accompanying every new shrink node in semiconductor industry new materials have to be implemented or device design has to be adapted - both to realize the intended device that still obeys phys. laws. Visualization of these problems is a task of metrologists facing themselves phys. borders. Monitoring stress becomes a major challenge arising from new processes applied as well as from worse surface to bulk vol.-ratio or intended implied stress in new concepts of devices. High k-materials might induce macroscopic stress, which can be monitored on the wafer scale in wafer bow expts. This unintended stress is even higher in patterned areas but not known in a micrometer scale. The knowledge of microscopic stress - or even nanoscopic stress - is even more important on intended stress implemented in devices and thus target of interest. This paper offers two ways of monitoring submicrometer stress. One is the well established scanning Micro-Raman technique. The second is a relatively new method called Tip-Enhanced-Raman-Spectroscopy (TERS). Both methods have their advantages but also challenges. The results of the easy to use scanning Micro-Raman technique need to be interpreted and information needs to be unfolded. Whereas the challenge of Tip-Enhanced-Raman-Spectroscopy lies in the exptl. skills: handling a scanning-probe-microscope-tip in a Micro-Raman beam with the perspective of having a resoln. restricted only by the SPM-diam. or even smaller. Entnommen aus <a_href="http://www.fiz-technik.de/db/b_tema.htm" target="_blank">TEMA</a>