Crystalline damage in silicon wafers and 'rare event' failure introduced by low-energy mechanical impact

We used X-ray diffraction imaging to detect and characterize mechanical damage introduced to 300mm silicon wafers by low impact energy exerted on the wafer edge. Maps of crystalline damage show a correlation between the damage size, the magnitude of the impact energy and the location of the impact p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials science in semiconductor processing 2017-06, Vol.63, p.40-44
Main Authors: Atrash, F., Meshi, I., Krokhmal, A., Ryan, P., Wormington, M., Sherman, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brittle crystal wafers
Crystalline damage
Fracture
Processing
Rare event
X-Ray diffraction
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Summary:We used X-ray diffraction imaging to detect and characterize mechanical damage introduced to 300mm silicon wafers by low impact energy exerted on the wafer edge. Maps of crystalline damage show a correlation between the damage size, the magnitude of the impact energy and the location of the impact point. We demonstrate the existence of crystalline non-visual defects; crystalline defects that appear in the X-Ray diffraction images but not in optical microscopy or scanning electron microscope. We propose a mechanism of crystalline damage formation at low impact energies based on finite element analysis and high-resolution synchrotron white beam transmission X-ray topography. Finally, we propose the concept of 'rare-event' to described relatively low rate of occurrence of wafer failure by fracture within semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
ISSN:1369-8001
1873-4081
DOI:10.1016/j.mssp.2017.01.018