The focused ion beam (FIB) has become an important tool for micro- and nanostructuring of samples such as milling, deposition and imaging. However, this leads to damage of the surface on the nanometer scale from implanted projectile ions and recoiled material atoms. It is therefore important to investigate each kind of damage quantitatively. We present a dynamic Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation code to simulate the morphological and compositional changes of a multilayered sample under ion irradiation and a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation code to simulate dose-dependent changes in the backscattering-ion (BSI)/secondary-electron (SE) yields of a crystalline sample. Recent progress in the codes for research to simulate the surface morphology and Mo/Si layers intermixing in an EUV lithography mask irradiated with FIBs, and the crystalline orientation effect on BSI and SE yields relating to the channeling contrast in scanning ion microscopes, is also presented.
The impact of EUV mask surface conditions on the patterned mask inspection process was investigated. The results of simulations show that the defect detection capability is degraded by the formation of a native oxide film on the surface of a Ru capped multilayer. This effect was assessed by constructing the secondary electron yield (SEY) curves of the EUV mask materials. These experimentally-obtained SEY curves were examined using semi-empirical Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results demonstrated that a native oxide film increased the SEY, and that this effect varied with film thickness. The results suggest that defect detection capability will vary according to the thickness of the native oxide when employing an inspection system using an electron beam technique. Also of interest is the finding that the thickness of the native oxide film can be ascertained by fitting the SEY curves.
Unwilling deformations of secondary electron (SE) images due to charging of an insulating layer on materials is one of
important issues for semiconductor industry applications of scanning ion microscopes (SIM). This paper presents a
Monte Carlo model of SE emission from SiO2 in which the charging induced by ion bombardment at the energy range of
tens of keV is taken into account. A self-consistent calculation is carried out for the transport of a projectile ion, recoiled
material atoms and SEs, the creation of space charges trapped in the material and the resultant electric field in/out the
material. Drift motion of trapped charges is calculated as well, where the recombination with a charge of opposite sign is
taken into account. Therefore, the evolution of the charging is simulated with successive arrivals of ions. Since the
surface voltage is positive due to ejection of SEs and injection of positive ions, some of ejected SEs are drawn back to
the surface and can rebound on it; these SEs are unable to produce a net emission. Dynamic changes in the SE yield and
surface voltage are compared among He ions, Ga ions and low-energy (<1 keV) electrons, along with the space charge
distributions and the in/out electric fields. The net SE yield is decreased during ion bombardment and finally it vanishes,
which is different from the case of electron bombardment where the net SE yield (including BSEs) is kept to one due to a
balance between coming and outgoing electrons. Even if there is not net emission of SEs, the surface voltage does not
reach any steady-state condition but progressively increases due to successive injection of positive ions. The growth rate
of the surface voltage depends on both the SE yield with no charging and the spatial distribution of the ions penetrating
into the material.
KEYWORDS: Ions, Gallium, Selenium, Silicon, Ion beams, Electron beams, Monte Carlo methods, Scanning electron microscopy, Helium, Scanning helium ion microscopy
In order to study the topographic contrast of line-edge patterns in a scanning ion microscope (SIM) using
helium (He) beam, a Monte Carlo simulation of secondary electron (SE) emission from silicon (Si) by the impact of He
ions in the energy range of tens of keV is performed. The edges with overcut and undercut profiles for different sidewall
angles are modeled and the patterns are scanned by using 30 keV He ion beam, so that the line profiles of the SE
intensity are calculated assuming zero-sized beams. The results are compared with those of 30 keV Ga ion and 1 keV
electron beams. Furthermore, the pseudo-images of critical-dimension (CD) line patterns with different widths are
constructed from the SE profiles. The calculated SE yields of Si for 10-40 keV He ions increase with increasing impact
energy, which become larger than that for low-energy electrons (keV or less). When scanning the line edges formed on a
Si surface, there appear both large and sharp peak and small dip of the SE yield. The height of the peak is much more for
the He ion beam than the Ga ion and electron beams, whereas the width is less: the FWHMs are 3.8 nm for 30 keV Heion,
7.2 nm for 30 keV Ga-ion and 8.0 nm for 1 keV electrons. This indicates that the line edge is more clearly
distinguished by He ions. The change in the sidewall angle causes the change in the shape of the hump in the SE profile
at the sidewall of overcut edges due to the incident angle dependence of the SE yield, which is clearly seen for all beams.
However, much less change in the line profiles of undercut edges is found for Ga ion and electron beams.
KEYWORDS: Silica, Silicon, Selenium, Scanning electron microscopy, Monte Carlo methods, Defect inspection, Electron beams, Electron transport, Particles, Defect detection
Recently, a unique capability in highly sensitive detection of residue defects in photoresist patterns on a metal hard mask
has been verified experimentally [T. Hayashi et al., Proc. SPIE, 6922 (2008) 6922-129]. In order to reveal the
mechanism for the new defect inspection technique, the charging up induced by 300 eV - 2000 eV electron
bombardment of thin insulating layers (SiO2, ~tens of nm) on Si is studied by using a self-consistent Monte-Carlo
simulation of the transport of a primary electron and secondary electrons (SE) and the generation of an electric field due
to the charges in the layer. The calculation is compared with the contrast changes in the SEM images of thermally
oxidized layers (20~100 nm) on a Si wafer. Low-energy EB (or thick SiO2 layer) causes the positive charging of the
layer, whereas the high-energy EB, which penetrates under thin SiO2 layer, relaxes the charging of the layer due to
electron-hole recombination in Si. The thickness dependence of the SE yield for low- and high-energies is investigated,
which explains the observed changes in the SEM images of the insulating layers on Si.
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