Electricity: measuring and testing – Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components – Of individual circuit component or element
Reexamination Certificate
2006-03-29
2008-11-25
Gutierrez, Diego (Department: 2831)
Electricity: measuring and testing
Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components
Of individual circuit component or element
C324S765010, C257S347000
Reexamination Certificate
active
07456636
ABSTRACT:
Test structures and a method for voltage contrast (VC) inspection are disclosed. In one embodiment, the test structure includes: a gate stack that is grounded by a ground to maintain the gate stack in an off state during VC inspection, which allows NFET defect detection using VC inspection prior to contact dielectric deposition. The test structure may alternatively include a gate stack that is biased by a bias to maintain the gate stack in an on state during VC inspection. The method may detect source-to-drain shorts in a transistor using VC inspection by providing a gate stack over a source and drain region of the transistor that is grounded by a ground to maintain the gate stack in an off state during VC inspection; and inspecting the transistor using voltage contrast. If the drain of the NFET brightens during VC inspection, this indicates a source to drain short.
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Patterson Oliver D.
Zhu Huilong
Gutierrez Diego
Hoffman Warnick LLC
International Business Machines - Corporation
Jaklitsch Lisa U.
Natalini Jeff
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