High-resolution strain measurement in shallow trench isolation structures using dynamic electron diffraction

The electron diffraction strain measurement technique and its application to strain in shallow trench isolation (STI) device structures was analyzed. It was shown that polysilazane-based inorganic spin-on-glass (P-SOGS) filling leads to a lower stress level and the accuracy of our pattern matching technique at 0.02% using convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) technique. It was found that CBED technique improved the sample orientation which were required for techniques based on high-order Laue zone (HOLZ) line fitting using kinematical approximation. The spatial resolution was improved by using electron nano-probe in a field emission TEM.