Abstract

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is widely used in imaging rather than for thermometry. In this work, the temperature-dependent line-scan profile for a silicon (Si) pitch structure was investigated by a simulation approach. Various electron signals (secondary electron (SE) and backscattering electron (BSE)) were recorded with different values of temperature at various primary electron (PE) energies. It is found that both the SE and BSE line-scan profiles vary with the temperature. However, the BSE line-scan profile presents a lower contrast than that of the SE profile. The deposited energies contributed by full electrons, Pes, and cascaded electrons as functions of depth and radial direction at different temperatures for this pitch structure were also investigated. It was concluded that the influences of the temperature of a solid on the scattering processes of PEs and cascaded electrons are different. Possible mechanisms were systematically analyzed based on the theory of electron–solid interaction. Finally, the temperature effect on the pitch measurement based on a line-scan profile was also investigated through the maximum derivative method. It was found that the bias value slightly increases with temperature. This work poses a potential possibility of measuring the temperature of nanostructures by acquiring the temperature-dependent line-scan profile by a standard SEM.

中文翻译：

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探索电子辐照下温度对节距结构线扫描轮廓的影响

摘要

扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 广泛用于成像而不是测温。在这项工作中，通过模拟方法研究了硅 (Si) 节距结构的温度相关线扫描轮廓。在不同的一次电子（PE）能量下，以不同的温度值记录各种电子信号（二次电子（SE）和背散射电子（BSE））。研究发现，SE 和 BSE 线扫描轮廓均随温度变化。然而，BSE 线扫描轮廓的对比度低于 SE 轮廓。还研究了该沥青结构在不同温度下全电子、Pes 和级联电子贡献的沉积能量作为深度和径向的函数。结果表明，固体温度对PE和级联电子散射过程的影响是不同的。基于电子-固体相互作用理论，系统地分析了可能的机制。最后，还通过最大导数法研究了温度对基于线扫描轮廓的节距测量的影响。发现偏差值随温度略有增加。这项工作为通过标准 SEM 获取与温度相关的线扫描轮廓来测量纳米结构的温度提供了潜在的可能性。