Interval Scan Inspection Technique for Contact Failure of Advanced DRAM Process using Electron Beam-Inspection System

We have developed a highly sensitive inspection technique based on an electron beam inspection for detecting the contact failure of a poly-Si plugged layer. It was difficult to distinguish the contact failure from normal landing plugs with high impedance. Normally, the thermal annealing method has been used to decrease the impedance of poly-Si plugs and this method increases the difference of charged characteristics and voltage contrast. However, the additional process made the loss of time and broke down the device characteristics. Here, the interval scanning method without thermal annealing was effectively applied to enhance the difference of surface voltage between well-contacted poly-Si plugs and incomplete contact plugs. It is extremely useful to detect the contact failures of non-annealed plug contacts with high impedance.