Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

2015

Faculty Sponsor

Chad Watson

Abstract

Composition analysis using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is crucial in the semiconductor industry for development of new products and enhancement of production yields. High quality EDS data relies on acquiring sufficient X-ray counts from the TEM sample. The amount of time that the electron beam interacts with the sample generating X-rays per pixel within the mapping area is known as dwell time, which is an EDS system parameter that governs optimum data acquisition. However, a systematic study to optimize this parameter has not been previously reported. An analytical expression was derived that enabled the prediction of a dwell time range that optimizes the total X-ray signal collected during the EDS data collection. Experimental results from multiple materials across several TEM/EDS systems confirmed the validity of the expression. The results of this study provide a guideline for increasing efficiency of TEM/EDS data collection from different materials using a variety of TEM/EDS systems through the optimization of EDS dwell time.

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