Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), along with the higher resolution transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) technique, has many different applications in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries. The electrical properties of many materials are intrinsically linked to their microstructure and, in particular, the grain size, texture and boundary properties. A single EBSD or TKD analysis can provide all the necessary information and with a resolution that is suitable for all but the finest-scale nanostructures.
Perhaps the most common applications in this segment are in the field of electronics packaging, such as characterisation of solder bumps or wire bonding. However, EBSD can be used to measure the density and type of dislocations in thin films (such as threading dislocations in II-VI semiconductors, for power generation and light emitting diode applications), or to improve our understanding of nanostructures in memory devices.
Examples of EBSD and TKD applications in this segment include:
Phase map (Cu – red, Sn – dark blue, Ni – light blue, Ag3Sn – yellow, Cu3Sn – orange, Eta Cu6Sn5 – green)
Orientation map (IPF-Z colouring scheme), highlighting coincident site lattice (CSL) boundaries in Cu and Ni
This application note provides several brief examples of the use of the EBSD technique and, in particular, the Symmetry S2 detector and the AZtecCrystal data processing software, for the effective characterisation of microstructures in a range of microelectronics samples.
This application note describes a method of combining Oxford Instrument’s OmniProbe tools and AZtec EBSD system for the manipulation and analysis of a 5μm diameter gold microelectronic wire sample.
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Find out how electron microscopy can be combined with light and scanning-probe microscopy analyses on the identical positions in order to investigate structure-property relationships in optoelectronic devices and how all parts of a Li-ion battery can be characterised.
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