Mark Lam Tiam Weng

Institute of Microelectronics A-Star, Singapore

Electronic Foetus – Birth of a chip. Defect on ECP copper before CMP looks like a foetus developing.

1st Place:

Gil Garteiz

Tower Semiconductor, Israel

A 22 angstrom low-voltage gate ruptured by ESD testing is exposed from the backside by removing the substrate. The final wet etch step has etched the gate poly out from behind the rupture oxide. Layers shown: STI, silicided active & contacts, spacers, gate oxide

3rd Place:

Sue Li Poh

Micron Semiconductor, Asia

Contamination at Contact Plugs

1st Place:

Robert Ulfig

Imago Scientific Instruments, Wisconsin, USA

3D Atom Probe Analysis of CVD Deposited Silicon Germanium, Boron Doped Silicon and Boron Doped Silicon Germanium films. Each dot or sphere indicated the location of individual atoms in the films. Silicon(Grey), Germanium(Green), and Boron(Blue Spheres). Only a fraction of the atoms are displayed for clarity.

3rd Place:

Bernhard Tittmann

Pennsylvania State University, USA

Image obtained with Ultrasonic Atomic Force Microscope which images relative modulus changes. The sample is a “green body” of Alumina particles (orange-white) with 3% binder (dark circles) The binder (Acrylic Emulsion) shows up as dark, because it has a lower modulus than the Alumina. The image is 10×10 micron. The particle size is about 1 micron. The binder could not be distinguished from the Alumina by any other microscope available.