Grain Size Distribution and Degree of Texture in Films Used in Integrated Circuits

As miniaturisation proceeds, the electrical properties of conductive films used in modem IC’s are increasingly influenced by the grain sizes and the texture of the films. There is a need therefore to devise techniques which can examine these properties. Described in this work are two new cross-sectional TEM techniques for use on fully-processed IC’s to determine quantitatively grain size distributions and the degree of texture in a film. The technique which investigates texture is used to determine how quickly the texture develops through a polysilicon film.