Practical aspects of ion beam analysis of semiconductor structures

Ion beam analysis plays a major role in the analysis of semiconductor structures. It can provide fast and routine measurements for many problems, especially related to elemental profiling. The major ion beam based methods RBS, SIMS, and SNMS, when applied in a supplementary manner, allow quantitative and sensitive elemental profiling. Special preparation of samples, like membranes for backside analysis, and the correction of the measured signal with respect to physical effects induced by the probing beam can improve the capabilities of these techniques. But from a practical point of view, ion beam analysis is only one approach, thus for many problems, alternative techniques like electron microscopy or X-ray analysis can provide better and faster access to the desired information. One example discussed in this paper was the analysis of surface contamination by TXRF. The synergy of approaching analytical problems by several methods is obvious. The use of focused ion beams for preparation of samples and subsequent analysis with different methods reflects this situation.