Raman spectroscopy for the study of microelectronic devices, MEMS and packaging: From composition to mechanical stress.

This tutorial addresses the unique application possibilities of Raman spectroscopy for microelectronics. After a short introduction on the Raman spectroscopy theory, the instrumentation is explained, including spatial resolution and confocality. Next examples are given where Raman spectroscopy is used for the study of composition, doping, crystallinity, phase, temperature and mechanical stress. These examples cover different materials, such as Si, InSb, SiGe, AlGaAs, diamond, and silicides. The main focus of this tutorial will be on the use of Raman spectroscopy to study local mechanical stress. Examples are given for stress introduced by isolation (LOCOS, shallow trench, deep trench) and silicidation,. But also packaging related stress is discussed, such as near solder bumps are even in the whole packaged chip. This includes both one and two-dimensional stress maps. Finally, examples are given where the technique was used to study stress in MEMS, such as membranes.

Ingrid De Wolf

Ingrid De Wolf received the M. Sc. degree in Physics and the Ph.D. in Sciences, Physics, both from the "Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium". From September 1989 on she joined the Reliability group of IMEC. She worked in the field of reliability physics of semiconductor devices, with special attention for mechanical stress aspects and failure analysis. She authored or co-authored in these fields more than 100 publications in international scientific journals and in international conference proceedings. She authored two book chapters and a catalogue on the application of Raman spectroscopy for semiconductor materials, and won three best paper awards at conferences (ESDERC 1993, ESREF 1997, ISTFA 1998). From beginning 1999 on, she heads the group Microsystem Reliability, where research is focused on reliability and failure aspects of MEMS and packaging.