Mechanism and Application of NMOS Leakage with Intra-Well Isolation Breakdown by Voltage Contrast Detection

An innovative application of voltage-contrast (VC) inspection allowed inline detection of NMOS leakage in dense SRAM cells is presented. Cell sizes of SRAM are continual to do the shrinkage with bit density promotion as semiconductor technology advanced, but the resulting challenges include not only development of smaller-scale devices, but also intra-devices isolation. The NMOS leakage caused by the underneath n+/P-well shorted to the adjacent PMOS/N-well was inspected by the proposed electron-beam (e-beam) scan in which VC images were compared during the in-line process step of post contact tungsten (W) CMP (Chemical Mechanical Planarization) instead of end-of-line electrical test, which has a long response time. A series of experiments based on the mechanism for improving the intra-well isolation was performed and verified by the inline VC inspection. An optimal process-integration condition involved to the tradeoff between the implant dosage and photo CD was carried out.