Microscopy techniques for industrial needs

Semiconductor products for high-quality market (automotive, aerospace, security, medical and scientific) imposes a deep and accurate understanding of chemical / physical phenomena, and the knowledge of the potential fault mechanisms which modulate the performance and quality of the products. Metal contaminants presence and silicon lattice damage in the phodo-diodes, together with the dangling bonds presence in the transistor gate-oxides, are particularly important features to control in order to guarantee the quality and reliability of CMOS Image Sensors. In this session Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Focused Ion beam (FIB), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) combined with Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) are the techniques applied and reviewed to characterize such critical process features.