Low keV FIB Applications for Circuit Edit

Chad Rue
FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR, USA
Randall Shepherd, Roy Hallstein, and Rick Livengood
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Introduction
Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tools are ubiquitous in the
semiconductor industry, and are used to perform a wide range
of Failure Analysis (FA) activities, from fault isolation to TEM
sample prep. FIB tools are also used to perform Circuit Edit,
(CE), in which existing Integrated Circuit (IC) devices are
modified to create prototype devices that simulate potential
mask changes. This greatly reduces the time and expense
associated with the design validation and debug process, and
speeds the product time-to-market.
However, the complexity of modern Integrated Circuits (ICs)
presents serious challenges to FIB operators. IC features are
becoming smaller and more densely packed, and new material
sets are construction techniques are continually emerging. To
address the navigational challenges of circuit edit, FIB
manufacturers have rightly invested significant effort to
improve the XY accuracy of FIB systems. Laser
interferometer-based stages are sometimes employed to
achieve the XY accuracy that is required to edit modern IC
devices.
However, great care must also be exercised to control FIB
processing in Z space. Modern IC devices have extremely thin
layers that require exquisite depth control. This requires
precise beam placement rastering strategies. In addition,
chemical agents can be introduced onto the sample during FIB
processing, to favorably manipulate the milling rates of
selected materials. The use of chemical agents to enhance or
suppress FIB milling rates is generally referred to as GasAssisted Etching (GAE). [1]
Previous work at FEI has demonstrated that the acceleration
potential of the ion beam can have a significant impact on the
selectivity of GAE processes. [2, 3] In particular, lower ion
energies tend to enhance chemical selectivity. [4] This is
presumably because lower energy ions generate lower sputter
yields, yet still provide ample energy to the surface to activate
adsorbed surface precursors. Previously published work
demonstrated that SiO2 can be selectively removed in the
presence of copper using a XeF2-assisted etch at low ion
energies, in a process referred to as skeletal etch. [3]

Figure 1: An example of a skeletal etch process in which a

XeF2-assisted FIB mill was used to remove the oxide over an
extended area of an IC device. When performed at low keV
(less than about 10 keV), this process is highly selective to the
oxide, and results in minimal erosion of the copper lines.
As the ion energy was lowered, the erosion of the copper
features diminished, yet the oxide was still effectively
removed.
The reverse process was also previously demonstrated: copper
was selectively removed in the presence of oxide using a
water-assisted etch at low ion energies. [2]

energies. This phenomenon appears to be the basis for the

selectivity that is observed towards copper.
II. Dielectric Films as Water Etch Stops. The water-assisted
etching rates of both silicon nitride and silicon oxide films
appear to be highly dependant on the ion energy. To
demonstrate this effect, a series of vias was milled into a thick
oxide substrate at different ion energies, and cross sections
were performed to measure the depths of the vias. The process
was first performed with no gas (referred to as default mill),
and the results are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2: Cross sectional view following a 12 keV waterassisted FIB mill on a thick copper film. This process is highly
selective to the copper, and results in minimal erosion of the
underlying dielectric material. The copper film shown in this
image is about 5 m thick. A thin tungsten deposition was
performed prior to cross sectioning, to help visualize the
underlying oxide.
Although ion milling at low keV is common in TEM sample
preparation, the technique has not become commonplace for
CE applications, despite the importance of ion energy on
chemical selectivity. This is because most commercial FIB
systems are optimized for either 30 or 50 keV, and image
resolution begins to degrade as the ion energy is reduced.
Recent work in the laboratories of FEI and Intel have
attempted to apply low keV FIB processing to cutting small
copper lines on advanced IC devices. The majority of this
paper will deal with water-assisted, low keV copper etching.
Secondary objectives of this work are to raise general
awareness among FIB users of the potential benefits of low
keV processing, to speculate on the physical mechanisms
involved, and to discuss some of the technical difficulties
associated with low keV FIB operation

Results and Discussion

I. Why Water? Water is an attractive precursor for FIB GAE
of copper for several reasons: it promotes copper surface
oxidation during FIB milling, which reduces the channeling
effects typically associated with copper sputtering. It is
inexpensive, non toxic, and is easy to deliver into the vacuum
chamber. It has an efficient surface sticking probability, so
gas-depletion effects are less likely to occur. Finally, as
discussed below, it appears to suppress the milling rates of
various dielectric materials [4], especially at lower ion

Figure 3: Cross sectional view of vias milled in oxide using a

default FIB mill (no gas) at different ion energies. From leftto-right, the ion energies were 30, 16, 8, and 5 keV. The
milling of each via was performed with identical beam scan
parameters.
As expected, the oxide milling rate decreases slightly with
decreasing ion energy. Next, an identical series of vias was
milled, except that water was directed onto the sample using a
standard FEI Gas Injection system.

Figure 4: Cross sectional view of vias milled in oxide using a

water-assisted FIB etch at different ion energies. From left-toright, the ion energies were 30, 16, 8, and 5 keV. The milling
of each via was performed with identical beam scan
parameters. Note that the depth of these vias is smaller than
the corresponding vias shown in Figure 3.
Note that the mill depths observed in the water-assisted series
(Figure 4) are significantly smaller than the corresponding
depths obtained using default mill (Figure 3). We conclude
that water inhibits the rate of material removal during FIB
milling of SiO2. Figure 5 illustrates this trend as a function of
ion energy.

The mill rate suppression at low ion energies is even more

dramatic. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the difference between
water-assisted and default mills at 8 keV on the
nitride/oxide/nitride stack.

Mill Depth (um) per Dose

0.4

0.3
Default Mill
Water-Assisted

0.2

0.1

0
0

10

20

30

Ion Acceleration Potential (keV)

Figure 5: Via milling rates as a function of ion energy. The yaxis is presented as the via depth in micrometers per ion dose
(where dose is a measure of the total ion charge delivered to
the surface in units of nC/mm2). Note that the water-assisted
curve is significantly lower than the default mill curve. That is,
water suppresses the FIB milling rate of oxide.

Figure 7: Cross sectional view of a via milled into a

nitride/oxide/nitride film using a default FIB mill (no gas) at 8
keV. Note that the via does not reach the lower nitride film.
The dose used to mill this via is identical to the dose used to
mill the vias shown in Figure 6.

A similar effect is observed for silicon nitride films. To

illustrate this behavior, we milled a series of vias into the topsurface passivation on a commercially available semiconductor
processor chip. The device had a stack of three insulating
layers deposited on top of the final copper metal layer: silicon
nitride/silicon oxide/silicon nitride. Side-by-side vias were
milled into this trilayer stack with an ion energy of 30 keV, as
shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8: Cross sectional view of a via milled into a

nitride/oxide/nitride film using a water-assisted FIB mill at 8
keV. Note that the via does not penetrate the upper nitride
layer, and is only visible as a mild depression in the top
surface.
Figure 6. Cross sectional views of vias milled into the
nitride/oxide/nitride trilayer on the top of an IC device using
30 keV ions. The very shallow via on the left was performed
using a water-assisted etch, and the via on the right was
performed using default mill (no gas) at 30 keV.
Note that the water-assisted mill on the left of Figure 6 barely
penetrates past the upper nitride layer and into the oxide,
whereas the default mill on the right penetrates through all
three dielectric materials and into the copper line below.
Again, the presence of water appears to suppress the dielectric
removal rate.

III. Cutting Copper. The suppressed milling rates of

dielectric materials described above can be exploited during
circuit edit activities. For example, an operator may perform a
water-assisted FIB etch at low keV to safely cut a thin copper
line, with low risk of over-etching and damaging layers below.
To illustrate this, we milled two identical vias into an oxide
substrate to expose a thin layer of copper. We then attempted
to cleanly cut the copper at the bottom of the via using waterassisted FIB mills at 30 and 8 keV. Following the copper cut,
the vias were filled with FIB-deposited tungsten and cross
sectioned for analysis. The results are shown below in Figure
9.

with an ion energy of 30 keV. Note that the copper is removed,

but the via extends past the bottom of the copper line, and is
close to the next metal layer.

Figure 9: Cross sectional views of water-assisted copper cuts

attempted at different ion energies. The line cut on the left was
performed at 30 keV, and the cut on the right was performed
at 8 keV.
Note that both cuts appear to have been successful, in that all
of the copper has been removed. However, the cut performed
at 30 keV penetrates past the bottom of the copper line,
increasing the risk of inter-level shorting. The cut performed at
8 keV stops at the top of the Ta/TaN barrier layer, with no
detectable over-etch.

IV. Cutting Copper Lines From the Backside on a Modern

Semiconductor Device. Several samples were prepared by
Intel to evaluate this technique for backside circuit edit on
packaged processor devices. The backside silicon trenching
and node access holes were performed in the typical fashion.
An M1 serpentine test structure was used as the test vehicle in
these experiments. A via was milled to expose the M1 test
structure in numerous locations, and then we attempted to cut
the line using a variety of techniques. The results were
consistent with the observations presented above. That is,
water-assisted FIB milling was effective at removing all of the
copper in the edit site, and lower ion energies resulted in less
over-etching. Typical examples are shown in Figures 10 and
11.

Figure 11. Cross sectional view of a water-assisted FIB cut of

an M1 copper line on a packaged processor device, performed
with an ion energy of 8 keV. Note that the copper is removed,
and the underlying dielectric is not breached.
A similar round of experiments was performed in a different
lab, using different operators and tools sets, to verify that the
process was robust and repeatable. Sample results of this
second round of water-assisted, low keV FIB copper cutting
are shown in Figures 12 - 14.

Figure 12: Cross sectional analysis of two attempted cuts of

an M1 copper line on a packaged processor device. In this
case, 10 keV ions were used during the water-assisted FIB
mill. The cross sectional face is parallel to the target line.

Figure 10: Cross sectional view of a water-assisted FIB cut of

an M1 copper line on a packaged processor device, performed

atoms cannot be considered sputtered until they penetrate

the adsorbed water cage. At lower primary ion energies, the
ejected surface atoms are more likely to be trapped. Even if a
substrate oxygen atom manages to escape, it can be replaced
by oxygen atoms from decomposed water molecules on the
surface. This process of repairing dielectric substrate damage
with fragments of adsorbed water molecules could be termed
Dielectric Replacement Therapy. Thus, the adsorbed water
layers acts as both an escape cage and a reservoir of
replacement material. The overall effect is a lower rate of
material removal. Of course, as the ion energy increases, the
ability of the water molecules to trap and/or repair sputtered
atoms diminishes.
VI. Copper/Oxide Selectivity. A set of experiments was
performed at an ion energy of 5 keV to determine the relative
milling rates of SiO2 and Cu using different gas precursors.
The ratio of the oxide milling rate to the copper milling rate
was plotted as a function of the gas used, and is shown in
Figure 15.

Oxide Depth / Cu Depth

Figure 13: Similar to the cuts shown in Figure 12, except that
the cross sectional face is perpendicular to the target line.
That is, the target line extends in-and-out of the image plane.

Figure 14: Endpoint plot of the secondary electron intensity

versus time, obtained during a low keV water-assisted FIB
mill of an M1 line. Note the separate peaks, presumably
attributed to the Ta/TaN barrier layer (first peak, left) and
copper line itself (second peak, right). An abrupt drop in the
secondary trace occurs when the copper line is finally cut.
The results shown above are encouraging indicators of the
robustness of the low keV milling technique. In all, three
different FIB systems were used by two different operators
from different laboratories. A wide range of samples were
examined, including automotive sensors, Sematech standard
samples, and semiconductor processor chips at the 120 nm and
65 nm technology nodes. From this array of samples, we were
able to demonstrate selective copper etching and dielectric
suppression on silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and carbon-doped
low-k materials. In addition, very abrupt and discernable
endpoint signals were obtained (Figure 14), which makes it
easier for inexperienced users to implement this technique.
V. Dielectric Replacement Therapy. Various physical
mechanisms may be at work during low keV water-assisted
FIB milling. [5] The adsorbed water molecules may act as a
protective cage that encapsulates the substrate atoms. Surface

100

XeF2
10

No Gas
1
0.1

Water
0.01

Figure 15: Oxide to copper selectivity (represented as a ratio

of the milling rates) for ions at 5 keV using different gases.
Note that default mill conditions (no gas) have selectivity
ratios of near unity. XeF2 promotes oxide milling, while water
inhibits oxide milling.
VII. Some Challenges. Low keV FIB milling has obvious
benefits for selectivity and process control. However, there are
some logistical difficulties associated with this technique. As
the ion energy decreases, real-time visibility during the mill
also decreases. This is due to many factors, some of which are
inherent limitations of all charged-particle microscopes. [6]
For example, at lower acceleration potentials the flight time of
the ions is longer, which leads to increased columbic repulsion
and a larger beam spot size. Additionally, the energy spread of
emitted ions becomes a larger fraction of the total ion energy,
which increases chromatic distortions. As the energy of the
primary ions decreases, they also generate fewer secondary
electrons, which leads to lower signal-to-noise levels. Finally,
primary ions at lower energies are more susceptible to
scattering by the high gas pressures that are used during FIB
processing. Examples of reduced visibility due to high gas

pressures and low ion energies are shown in Figures 16a and b,
respectively.

Figure 16a: Image grabs at 8 keV with gas off (left) and with
water flowing at a pressure of 2x10-5 Torr (right).

Figure 17b: Scattering of 30 keV Ga+ ions by water vapor at a

concentration of 4x10-6 gcm-3.
Despite these simulation results, and the empirical observation
that visibility degrades with increased gas pressure, there is
contradictory evidence that suggests that gas-scattering may
not be the sole culprit causing poor visibility at low keV
conditions.
Figure 16b: Real-time visibility at 30 keV (left) and 8 keV
(right) with a water background pressure of 2.5x10-5 Torr.
Simulations using SRIM [7] illustrate qualitatively how higher
gas pressures can lead to a more diffuse primary beam, as
depicted in Figure 17.

Figure 17a: Scattering of 30 keV Ga+ ions by water vapor at a

concentration of 1x10-6 gcm-3.

To examine the importance of gas scattering, we milled vias

into an oxide substrate under a wide range of conditions and
performed cross sectional analysis to examine the via profile.
We assume that gas-scattering events should lead to milling
and sample erosion away from the primary beam axis. Thus,
vias milled under conditions with active beam scattering
should have a characteristic profile with more rounded, gently
sloping sidewalls. In total, we performed a matrix of 8 vias to
examine every combination of three different variables: mass
of the gas target (N2 and Xe), pressure (0 and 2x10-5 Torr), and
ion acceleration potential (8 and 30 keV). The results of the
Xe scattering experiments are shown below in Figure 18.

potential. As the ion energy is lowered, the milling rate of

dielectric materials is greatly reduced, leading to enhanced
copper-to-dielectric selectivity. This effect has been
demonstrated for a wide range of dielectric materials,
including silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and carbon-doped
low-k materials.
Low keV water-assisted copper etching has been successfully
used to cut copper lines on a variety of samples, from
automotive sensors to modern semiconductor processing chips.
The primary difficulty associated with low keV FIB operation
is visibility, especially when high gas pressures are also used.
However, a simple plot of the stage current or secondary
electron intensity may be adequate for endpointing purposes.
Investigations continue to determine the limitations and
causes.

Figure 18a: Cross sectional view of vias milled at 8 keV.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Clive Chandler of FEI Company for
helpful discussions on the mechanism of dielectric etch
suppression. Mark Utlaut, Mostafa Maazouz, and John Orloff
provided helpful discussions on charged particle optics. SRIM
version 2006.02 was used for the gas scattering calculations in
this work.

References and Notes

Figure 18b: Cross sectional view of vias milled at 30 keV.

Note that there is little difference in the via profiles between
no gas and high-gas pressures at either acceleration potential,
despite the high mass of the gas target (Xe). Perhaps there is
something specific to water, with its ability to form extended
networks of hydrogen bonds, which leads to its unusual
behavior. Certainly water differs from N2 or Xe in this regard.
Further investigation will be required to identify the exact
cause of the image degradation observed with high background
pressures of certain gases.

Conclusions
We have demonstrated that the selectivity of water-assisted
FIB copper etching depends strongly on the ion acceleration

[1] M. Abramo, et al, Gas Assisted Etching: An Advanced

Technique for FIB Device Modification, Proc. 20th
ISTFA, Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 1994, pp. 439-446.
[2] C. Rue et al, Mixed Field Deprocessing, Presented at
the Meeting of the European FIB Users Group (EFUG),
Wuppertal, Germany, Oct. 2006.
[3] C. Rue, Skeletal Etch, Presented at the ISTFA FIB
Users Group Meeting, Austin, TX, Nov. 2006.
[4] T. J. Stark et al, H2O Enhanced Focused Ion Beam
Micromachining, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B13, 2565 (1995).
[5] C. Chandler, FEI Company, private communication.
[6] M. Utlaut, M. Maazouz, J. Orloff, FEI Company,
private communication.
[7] J. F. Zeigler et al, The Stopping and Range of Ions in
Matter, Software Version SRIM-2006.02. Free download
available at srim.org.