Lateral resolution of secondary ion mass spectrometry–results of an inter‐laboratory comparison

Recently, BAM organised an inter‐laboratory comparison focussed on lateral resolution and accuracy of sub‐micron length measurements by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Results were submitted by 16 laboratories from 10 countries. The task was to analyse a cross‐sectioned semiconductor multilayer stack. The resulting strip pattern in the surface of the sample shows narrow strips, step transitions and gratings of different periods. Imaging analysis of this pattern enables the determination of relevant parameters related to the lateral resolution: (i) The width (FWHM) of the primary ion beam, (ii) the distance between 16% and 84% intensity points in a profile across the image of a step transition and (iii) the modulation of intensity in the images of gratings with different periods. The parameter's data reported by the participants vary in a wide range. A strong variation in the data of primary ion beam width was observed for results measured with the same type of instrument. The distance between two narrow strips was measured with high accuracy. Twelve of sixteen of the submitted values are within the limits of uncertainty of the reference value 964 ± 35 nm. This result shows that the calibration of the length scale of the SIMS instruments is already rather precise in most of the participating laboratories. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.