Ion milling device and ion milling method

Abstract

To provide an ion gun of a penning discharge type capable of narrowing a beam with a low ion beam current at a low acceleration voltage, an ion milling device including the same, and an ion milling method. An ion milling device that controls half width of a beam profile of an ion beam with which a sample is irradiated from an ion gun to be in a range of 200 m to 350 m. The device includes: the ion gun that ionizes a gas supplied from the outside, and emits an ion beam; a gas-flow-rate varying unit that varies a flow rate of the gas supplied to the ion gun; and a current measurement unit that measures a current value of the ion beam emitted from the ion gun. The gas-flow-rate varying unit sets a gas flow rate to be higher than a gas flow rate at which the ion beam current has a maximum value based on the current value measured by the current measurement unit and the flow rate of the gas determined by the gas-flow-rate varying unit.

Claims

1. An ion milling device that controls a half width of a beam profile of an ion beam with which a sample is irradiated from an ion gun to be in a range of 200 m to 350 m, the device comprising: the ion gun that ionizes a gas supplied from the outside, and emits an ion beam; a gas-flow-rate varying unit that varies a flow rate of the gas supplied to the ion gun; and a current measurement unit that measures a current value of the ion beam emitted from the ion gun, wherein the gas-flow-rate varying unit is set to control a gas flow rate to be higher than a gas flow rate at which the current value measured by the current measurement unit has a maximum value, and such that a width of the beam profile of the ion beam at a point halfway between a topmost depth of the beam and a bottommost depth of the beam is reduced in relation to a width of the beam at the topmost depth by increasing the gas flow rate to which the gas-flow-rate varying unit is set, and wherein the beam profile is based on a relationship between a beam diameter or width with respect to a spot depth of the beam.

2. The ion milling device according to claim 1, wherein a voltage ranging from 2 kV to 4 kV is applied to an acceleration electrode of the ion gun.

3. The ion milling device according to claim 1, wherein an outlet diameter of an acceleration electrode is 2 mm.

4. The ion milling device according to claim 1, further comprising: a heat transfer unit that transfers heat from the sample and a sample support to a cooling source.

5. The ion milling device according to claim 1, wherein the gas is selected from the group consisting of an inert gas and a reactant gas.

6. The ion milling device according to claim 1, wherein the gas is argon.

7. The ion milling device according to claim 6, wherein the argon gas is supplied to the ion gun at a flow rate of 0.3 to 0.5 cubic centimeters per minute.

8. The ion milling device according to claim 6, wherein the argon gas is supplied to the ion gun at a flow rate of 0.3 cubic centimeters per minute or more.

9. The ion milling device according to claim 1, wherein the ion gun is a penning discharge type.

10. An ion milling method of controlling a half width of a beam profile of an ion beam to be in a range of 200 m to 350 m, and processing a sample, the method comprising: an emission step of ionizing a gas supplied from the outside, and emitting the ion beam; an application step of applying a voltage ranging from 2 kV to 4 kV to an acceleration electrode of an ion gun; a flow-rate varying step of varying a flow rate of the gas supplied to the ion gun; a measurement step of measuring a current value of the ion beam emitted from the ion gun; a setting step of setting a gas flow rate to be higher than a gas flow rate at which the ion beam current has a maximum value based on the current value measured in the measurement step; and an irradiation step of irradiating the sample with the ion beam set in the setting step, wherein a width of the beam profile of the ion beam at a point halfway between a topmost depth of the ion beam and a bottommost depth of the ion beam is controlled to be smaller than a half width of the beam profile of the ion beam in relation to a width of the beam at the topmost depth and at which the ion beam current has the maximum value set in the setting step, and wherein the beam profile is based on a relationship between a beam diameter or width with respect to a spot depth of the beam.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an ion milling device of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is an example of a sectional view showing a configuration of a peripheral portion associated with an ion gun of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between a spot depth and an acceleration voltage of an ion gun of a penning discharge type in a related art condition in which an ion beam current is set to be a maximum value.

(4) FIG. 4 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between a gas flow rate and an ion beam current in order to describe an operation of the ion milling device of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 shows an example of an explanatory diagram showing an advantage of the present invention.

(6) FIG. 6 shows an example of an explanatory diagram showing another advantage of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing a spot depth of the present invention.

(8) FIG. 8 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the gas flow rate and the ion beam current in order to describe another operation of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing another spot depth of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 10 is another example of the explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the ion milling device of the present invention.

(11) FIG. 11 is still another example of the explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the ion milling device of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(12) The present inventors have repeatedly conducted the experiment and have found that a beam profile of an ion beam can be controlled by controlling a gas flow rate supplied into an ionization chamber of an ion gun. Particularly, the present inventors have found that the ion beam profile of the ion beam can be controlled by measuring a gas flow rate at which an ion beam current has a maximum value and setting the gas flow rate to be higher than a flow rate value at which the ion beam current has the maximum value and the half width of the beam profile can be reduced to be in a range of 200 m to 350 m. According to the present invention, it has been checked that since an ion beam current value is also decreased as the diameter of the profile of the ion beam is reduced, thermal damage is greatly decreased.

(13) Accordingly, it is possible to provide an ion gun of a penning discharge type capable of narrowing an ion beam at a low acceleration voltage by a simple method, an ion milling device including the same, and an ion milling method. Particularly, according to the present invention, since it is possible to arbitrarily select a desired ion beam current, a desired ion beam shape, and a desired milling rate by setting an acceleration voltage and an argon gas flow rate, cooling performance of a cooling source can be effectively utilized in a milling device combined with a cooling mechanism. Therefore, an advantage of milling with small thermal damage is exhibited. Particularly, the present invention is greatly useful to performing ion milling on a CuZn alloy, lead-free solder, or an organic polymeric material.

(14) Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(15) FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an ion milling device of the present invention. In an ion gun 1 of a penning discharge type or having a form conformable to this type, constituent elements required to generate ions are provided therein, and an irradiation system for irradiating a sample 6 with an ion beam 2 is constituted. Next, a gas source 41 is connected to the ion gun 1 through a gas-flow-rate varying unit 40, and a gas of which a gas flow rate is controlled by the gas-flow-rate varying unit 40 is supplied into an ionization chamber of the ion gun 1. The irradiation using the ion beam 2 and an ion beam current thereof are controlled by an ion-gun control unit 3. The ion beam current of the ion beam 2 is measured by a current measurement unit 50.

(16) A current probe 52 serves as a shutter of the ion beam, and includes a mechanism operated by a current-probe driving unit 51. A vacuum chamber 4 is controlled to be in an atmospheric state or a vacuum state by a vacuum pumping system 5. The sample 6 is held on a sample support 7, and the sample support 7 is held by a sample stage 8. The sample stage 8 includes all mechanism elements which are capable of taking the sample stage out of the vacuum chamber 4 when the vacuum chamber 4 is open to atmosphere and are capable of tilting the sample 6 with respect to an optical axis of the ion beam 2 at an arbitrary angle. A sample-stage driving unit 9 may swing the sample stage 8 from side to side, and may control a rate thereof.

(17) FIG. 2 is an example of a sectional view showing a configuration of a peripheral portion associated with the ion gun of the present invention. The ion gun 1 includes the gas-flow-rate varying unit 40 that supplies a gas into the ion gun, an anode 13, a cathode 11, a cathode 12, a permanent magnet 14, an acceleration electrode 15, and an insulator 16, and is fixed to an ion gun base 17. The ion-gun control unit 3 is electrically connected to a discharge power source 21 and an acceleration power source 22, and controls a discharge voltage and an acceleration voltage.

(18) In the ion gun of such a penning discharge type, since a potential difference is generated between the cathode 12 and an acceleration-electrode outlet hole 33, a lens is provided in this space. Since strength of the lens is proportional to the potential difference between the cathode 12 and the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 33, the higher the acceleration voltage, and the higher the lens strength. Thus, the beam is narrowed. However, since a lens effect is decreased at a low acceleration voltage, spreading of the beam becomes remarkable, and a spot diameter on the sample becomes larger.

(19) FIG. 3 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between a spot depth and an acceleration voltage of the ion gun of the penning discharge type in a related art condition in which an ion beam current is set to be a maximum value. As compared with a beam profile processed at an acceleration voltage of 6 kV, in a beam profile processed at an acceleration voltage of 4 kV, a depth of a beam mark is shallow, whereas a spot size of the ion beam is increased. Thus, it can be seen that influence of thermal diffusion on the sample is increased even though a low acceleration voltage is selected in order to perform low-damage processing.

(20) The present inventors have repeatedly conducted the experiment in order to perform ion milling capable of achieving a small diameter of the beam spot without increasing a spot size of the ion beam even at a low acceleration voltage in the ion gun of the penning discharge type, and have found that the ion beam profile can be controlled by controlling the gas flow rate supplied into the ionization chamber 18 of the ion gun 1. Particularly, the present inventors have found that the small diameter of the ion beam can be achieved such that half width of the beam profile ranges from 200 m to 350 m by measuring the gas flow rate at which the ion beam current is acquired as the maximum value and setting the gas flow rate to be higher than a gas flow rate at which the ion beam current is the maximum value.

(21) FIG. 4 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the gas flow rate and the ion beam current in order to describe an operation of the ion milling device of the present invention. Here, in a configuration of the ion gun 1 applied to the experiment, an anode inner diameter 31 is 8 mm, an anode outlet hole 32 is 4 mm, a cathode outlet hole 33 is 4 mm, and the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 is 2 mm. An application voltage of the discharge power source 21 is 1.5 kV, and an application voltage of the acceleration power source 22 is 4 kV, and the gas source 41 supplied into the ionization chamber 18 of the ion gun 1 is argon. The silicon is used as the processing target material, and a milling time is set to be one hour.

(22) As seen from FIG. 4, the ion beam current is changed by increasing the gas flow rate introduced to the ion gun 1, and in the ion gun configuration which is applied to the experiment, the ion beam current tends to be increased in a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0 to 0.2 cm.sup.3/minute, and the ion beam current tends to be decreased in a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0.2 to 1.0 cm.sup.3/minute. In a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0 to 0.3 cm.sup.3/minute, the ion beam current value is greatly varied, and such a range is a an area where the ion beam current is extremely instable. In an area where the ion beam current is unstable, since a smaller potential difference is generated between the cathode outlet hole 33 and the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34, the lens effect is decreased, and thus, the ion beam emitted at an acceleration voltage of 4 kV spreads. As a result, the ion beam is not able to pass through the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 of 2 mm, and collides with the peripheral portion of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34.

(23) This phenomenon causes bad influence such as the redeposition adhering to the acceleration electrode, the deformation of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole, or the contamination due to the redeposition in addition to the destabilization of the ion beam current. It can be seen from the result of FIG. 4 that the influence of the collision of the ion beam with the peripheral portion of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 is excluded by increasing the argon gas flow rate and the stable ion beam current value is acquired.

(24) FIG. 5 shows an example of the relationship between an argon gas flow rate and half width of an ion beam profile of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows that the diameter of the ion beam becomes smaller by increasing the argon gas flow rate in such a manner that the half width of the beam profile is 350 m at an argon gas flow rate of 0.3 cm.sup.3/minute, the half width of the beam profile is 250 m at an argon gas flow rate of 0.5 cm.sup.3/minute, and the half width of the beam profile is 200 m or less at an argon gas flow rate of 0.65 cm.sup.3/minute.

(25) FIG. 6 shows an example of the relationship between an argon gas flow rate and an ion milling rate of the present invention. FIG. 6 shows that the milling rate tends to be decreased in such a manner that the ion milling rate is 90 m per hour at an argon gas flow rate of 0.3 cm.sup.3/minute and the ion milling rate is 70 m per hour at an argon gas flow rate of 0.9 cm.sup.3/minute, but a decrease ratio thereof is not large so much to provide a practically sufficient milling rate for some milling targets.

(26) FIG. 7 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing a spot depth of the present invention. Here, this diagram shows a beam profile in a case where the acceleration voltage condition is 4 kV, silicon is used as the processing target material, the milling time is set to be one hour. A related art example is a case where the argon gas flow rate is 0.07 cm.sup.3/minute, and an example is a case where the argon gas flow rate is 0.9 cm.sup.3/minute. According to the present invention, the half width of the ion beam profile is reduced to about 40% from that of the related art example. Depths of the ion beams, that is, milling rates are approximately equal to each other.

(27) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example of Preferable Range of Operation Parameter of Present Invention More Preferable preferable Setting range range example Acceleration voltage (kV) 4 4 4 Gas flow rate (cm.sup.3/minute) 0.3 0.6 0.9 Gas pressure (Pa) 6.0 10.sup.2 1.4 10.sup.1 2.0 10.sup.1 Ion beam current (A) 85 55 45 Beam spot half width (m) 370 230 190 Beam spot depth (m) 90 75 75

(28) Table 1 represents a list of a preferable parameter range, a more preferable parameter range, and a setting example in a case where milling is performed on silicon for one hour at an acceleration voltage of 4 kV. As the preferable range, the gas flow rate is 0.3 cm.sup.3/minute or more, an internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 6.010 Pa or more, the acquired ion beam current value is 85 A or less, the half width of the ion beam spot is 370 m or less, and a beam spot depth is 90 m or less.

(29) As the more preferable range, the gas flow rate is 0.6 cm.sup.3/minute or more, the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 1.410.sup.1 Pa or more, the acquired ion beam current value is 55 A or less, the half width of the ion beam spot is 230 m or less, and the beam spot depth is 75 m or less. As the setting example, the gas flow rate is 0.9 cm.sup.3/minute, the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 2.010.sup.1 Pa, the acquired ion beam current value is 45 A, the half width of the ion beam spot is 190 m, and the beam spot depth is 75 m. It is possible to arbitrarily select the ion beam current value, the ion beam shape, and the milling rate by setting the acceleration voltage and the argon gas flow rate as represented in Table 1.

(30) FIG. 8 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the gas flow rate and the ion beam current in order to describe an operation of the present invention. Here, in a configuration of the ion gun 1 applied to the experiment, an anode inner diameter 31 is 8 mm, an anode outlet hole 32 is 4 mm, a cathode outlet hole 33 is 4 mm, and an acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 is 2 mm. An application voltage of the discharge power source 21 is 1.5 kV, and an application voltage of the acceleration power source 22 is 3 kV, and the gas source 41 supplied into the ionization chamber 18 of the ion gun 1 is argon. The silicon is used as the processing target material, and a milling time is set to be one hour.

(31) As seen from FIG. 6, the ion beam current is changed by increasing the gas flow rate introduced to the ion gun 1, and in the ion gun configuration which is applied to the experiment, the ion beam current tends to be increased in a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0 to 0.35 cm.sup.3/minute, and the ion beam current tends to be decreased in a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0.35 to 1.0 cm.sup.3/minute. In a range in which the argon gas flow rate is 0 to 0.35 cm.sup.3/minute, the ion beam current value is greatly varied, and such a range is a an area where the ion beam current is extremely instable.

(32) In an area where the ion beam current is unstable, since a smaller potential difference is generated between the cathode outlet hole 33 and the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34, the lens effect is decreased, and thus, the ion beam emitted at an acceleration voltage of 3 kV further spreads. As a result, the ion beam is not able to pass through the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 of 2 mm, and collides with the peripheral portion of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34. This phenomenon causes bad influence such as the redeposition adhering to the acceleration electrode, the deformation of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole, or the contamination due to the redeposition in addition to the destabilization of the ion beam current. It can be seen from the result of FIG. 8 that the influence of the collision of the ion beam with the peripheral portion of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole 34 is excluded by increasing the argon gas flow rate and the stable ion beam current value is acquired.

(33) FIG. 9 is an example of an explanatory diagram showing the spot depth of the present invention. Here, this diagram shows a beam profile in a case where the acceleration voltage condition is 3 kV, silicon is used as the processing target material, the milling time is set to be one hour. A related art example is a case where the argon gas flow rate is 0.07 cm.sup.3/minute, and an example is a case where the argon gas flow rate is 0.9 cm.sup.3/minute. According to the present invention, the half width of the ion beam profile is reduced to about 30% from that of the related art example. Depths of the ion beams, that is, milling rates are approximately equal to each other.

(34) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Example of Another Preferable Range of Operation Parameter of Present Invention More Preferable preferable Setting range range example Acceleration voltage (kV) 3 3 3 Gas flow rate (cm.sup.3/minute) 0.3 0.6 0.9 Gas pressure (Pa) 6 10.sup.2 1.4 10.sup.1 2 10.sup.1 Ion beam current (A) 65 45 35 Beam spot half width (m) 330 300 195 Beam spot depth (m) 40 30 30

(35) Table 2 represents a list of a preferable parameter range, a more preferable parameter range, and a setting example in a case where milling is performed on silicon for one hour at an acceleration voltage of 3 kV. As the preferable range, the gas flow rate is 0.3 cm.sup.3/minute or more, an internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 6.010.sup.2 Pa or more, the acquired ion beam current value is 65 A or less, the half width of the ion beam spot is 330 m or less, and a beam spot depth is 40 m or less.

(36) As the more preferable range, the gas flow rate is 0.6 cm.sup.3/minute or more, the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 1.410.sup.1 Pa or more, the acquired ion beam current value is 45 A or less, the half width of the ion beam spot is 300 m or less, and the beam spot depth is 30 m or less. As the setting example, the gas flow rate is 0.9 cm.sup.3/minute, the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 4 in this case is 2.010.sup.1 Pa, the acquired ion beam current value is 35 A, the half width of the ion beam spot is 195 m, and the beam spot depth is 30 m.

(37) It is possible to arbitrarily select the ion beam current value, the ion beam shape, and the milling rate by setting the acceleration voltage and the argon gas flow rate as represented in Table 2. In such a configuration, since the ion beam profile can be arbitrarily controlled, it is possible to realize the ion milling device including the ion gun capable of easily performing stable control of the ion current at a low acceleration voltage by selecting the condition so as to be suitable for the material characteristics of the milling target and capable of acquiring the stable ion current by suppressing redeposition adhering to the acceleration electrode, the deformation of the acceleration-electrode outlet hole, or the contamination of the acceleration electrode due to the redeposition.

(38) FIG. 10 is another example of the explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the ion milling device of the present invention. An ion milling device is acquired by adding a sample-stage cooling unit 70 for cooling the sample to the device configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the ion milling device includes the sample-stage cooling unit 70 configured such that a cooling source 72 and a cooling control unit 73 are provided on an atmospheric side of the vacuum chamber 4 and the sample 6 and the sample support 7 which are heat sources within the vacuum chamber 4 are connected through a heat transfer unit 71.

(39) In a case where a metal wire acquired by filling an ionic liquid within a resin tube is used as the heat transfer unit 71, a liquid nitrogen dewar is used as the cooling source 72, and these units are connected to the sample 6 and the sample support 7, a cooling range limit of the sample is 700 m in terms of the device configuration. Thus, in the beam profile of the ion gun of the penning discharge type under the related art condition in which the ion beam current is set to have the maximum value as shown in FIG. 3, since a beam spot area is excessively large, the sample 6 is not able to be sufficiently cooled, and thus, it is not possible to avoid thermal damage of the sample.

(40) According to the present invention, it is possible to arbitrarily select a desired ion beam current value, ion beam shape, and milling rate by setting the acceleration voltage and the argon gas flow rate as represented in Tables 1 and 2. Thus, it is possible to select a combination of ion milling having an optimum ion beam current and ion beam profile in consideration of material characteristics of a milling target and cooling performance of the device. Here, although it has been described that the above-described configuration is used as a representative example of the sample-stage cooling unit 70, the present invention may also be applied to a case where the sample-stage cooling unit 70 has another configuration.

(41) As stated above, it is possible to arbitrarily form the ion beam capable of effectively utilizing the cooling performance of the cooling source, and thus, it is possible to perform selection including an increase and a decrease in ion beam current value. As a result, a more excellent cooling effect can be expected. Since the ion milling rate is not greatly decreased, it is possible to achieve a practically sufficient milling rate especially for a milling target of which a milling rate needs to be decreased in order to decrease thermal damage until now. As described above, the present invention can obtain a more excellent effect as a milling device with low heat damage in combination with the ion milling device including the sample-stage cooling unit for cooling the sample.

(42) FIG. 11 is still another example of the explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the ion milling device of the present invention. A central control unit 80 includes at least a gas-flow-rate control unit 81, and an ion-beam-current control unit 82, and is electrically connected to at least the current measurement unit 50 and the gas-flow-rate varying unit 40. The current probe 52 disposed in the current measurement unit 50 includes a mechanism with which the current probe 52 is disposed on an axis of the ion beam 2 by the current-probe driving unit 51 and is retreated from the axis of the ion beam 2. In a case where the current probe 52 is disposed on the axis of the ion beam 2 by the current-probe driving unit 51, an output of the current measurement unit 50 is sent to the central control unit 80, and the central control unit 80 causes the ion-beam-current control unit 82 to monitor the ion beam current value. The central control unit 80 causes the gas-flow-rate control unit 81 to drive the gas-flow-rate varying unit 40, and varies the gas flow rate supplied to the ionization chamber 18 of the ion gun 1. In this case, the central control unit 80 monitors a variation in the ion beam current value measured by the current measurement unit 50, and automatically acquires measurement data represented in FIG. 4 or 8. The central control unit 80 can perform stable ion milling by automatically setting a gas flow rate at which a stable ion beam with no variation can be acquired from the measurement data.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(43) 1 Ion gun 2 Ion beam 3 Ion-gun control unit 4 Vacuum chamber 5 Vacuum pumping system 6 Sample 7 Sample support 8 Sample stage 9 Sample-stage driving unit 11 Cathode 12 Cathode 13 Anode 14 Permanent magnet 15 Acceleration electrode 16 Insulator 17 Ion gun base 18 Ionization chamber 21 Discharge power source 22 Acceleration power source 31 Anode inner diameter 32 Anode outlet hole 33 Cathode outlet hole 34 Acceleration-electrode outlet hole 40 Gas-flow-rate varying unit 41 Gas source 50 Current measurement unit 51 Current-probe driving unit 52 Current probe 70 Sample-stage cooling unit 71 Heat transfer unit 72 cooling source 73 Cooling control unit 80 Central control unit 81 Gas-flow-rate control unit 82 Ion-beam-current control unit