Correction of absorption-edge artifacts in polychromatic X-ray tomography in a scanning electron microscope for 3D microelectronics

Journal Article · Thu Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905117· OSTI ID:22392316

Printemps, T.; Bleuet, P. ^[1]; Lorut, F. ^[2]

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1. Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France)
2. STMicroelectronics, 850 rue Jean Monnet, 38926 Crolles (France)

X-ray tomography is widely used in materials science. However, X-ray scanners are often based on polychromatic radiation that creates artifacts such as dark streaks. We show this artifact is not always due to beam hardening. It may appear when scanning samples with high-Z elements inside a low-Z matrix because of the high-Z element absorption edge: X-rays whose energy is above this edge are strongly absorbed, violating the exponential decay assumption for reconstruction algorithms and generating dark streaks. A method is proposed to limit the absorption edge effect and is applied on a microelectronic case to suppress dark streaks between interconnections.

• OSTI ID: 22392316
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 86, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ABSORPTION
ALGORITHMS
BEAMS
CORRECTIONS
MATERIALS
MICROELECTRONICS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TOMOGRAPHY
X RADIATION