In situ spatially resolved surface characterization of realistic semiconductor structure after reactive ion etching process

The properties of a patterned semiconductor structure have been utilized to enable spatially resolved analysis of the surface chemistry of a contact hole reactive ion etching process by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The topography of the semiconductor structure in combination with angle resolved analysis has been used to cause geometrical shadowing and to enable selective area analysis. Differences in the conduction characteristics of silicon and photoresist and concomitant electrostatic charging of the insulating photoresist layer made fluorocarbon films on photoresist and silicon nonequivalent and allowed to unambiguously assign their spatial origin.