In-line monitoring of the electrical properties of high-k dielectrics in logic or memory fab-lines has become increasingly important in the semiconductor industry. Non-contact corona-Kelvin based metrology can be used to affectively monitor in-line key dielectric properties. Furthermore, we present an important extension of this metrology to the micro-scale that allows measurement of dielectric properties on test sites as small as 40μm × 70μm. This is achieved through miniaturization of the corona charging apparatus and of the Kelvin probe without a sacrifice in precision or repeatability. Corona-Kelvin micro-metrology allows for the monitoring of the critical dielectric properties directly on product wafers that can then be returned to the fab-line for continued processing. Application examples are given for dielectric capacitance of advanced dielectrics and for the properties of an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) memory structure. In the latter case we demonstrate programming and erasing of the ONO structure realized by corona charging. We also use the measured flatband voltage and total charge to identify the location of the programmed charge at the first SiO2/Si3N4 interface in the ONO structure.
