New Approaches to Image Processing Based Failure Analysis of Nano-Scale ULSI Devices

Engineers and scientists face the pressing problem in ULSI development and quality assurance that microscopy methods can't keep pace with the continuous shrinking of feature size in microelectronics - nanometer scale sizes are below the resolution of light, and imaging these features is nearly impossible even with electron microscopes ("noisy images").This title first provides an introduction to transmission and scanning microscope image processing for images of metal microstructures. Also, non-metallic structures are discussed. The authors present novel "smart" image processing methods, applications, and case studies concerning quality improvement of microscope images of microelectronic chips and process optimization. An approach for high-resolution imaging of advanced metallization for micro- and nanoelectronics is explained. This approach obviates the time-consuming preparation and selection of microscope measurement and sample conditions and thereby enables not only better electron-microscopic resolution, but also more efficient testing and quality control - leading to productivity gains in design and development of nano-scale ULSI chips.In addition, several approaches are presented for super resolving of low-resolution images to improve failure analysis of microelectronic chips.