JP2007255933A - Sample holder, element analyzer, electron microscope and element analyzing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an element analyzer which dispenses with the movement of a sample during analysis when the three-dimensional element constitution of the sample is analyzed in an atomic level with high precision and also dispenses the attaching/detaching work of the sample, and the sample holder or the like usable in the element analyzer. <P>SOLUTION: The sample holder 10 for an electron microscope loaded with a measuring target has a housing 16 having openings 28 and 28' permitting the electron beam applied to the measuring target and the detection means provided in the housing 16 to measure the position and flight time of the element dissociated from the measuring target. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sample holder for an electron microscope on which an object to be measured is mounted, an element analysis apparatus provided with the sample holder, an electron microscope, and an element analysis method.

  As a method for performing elemental analysis of a sample using an electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy using X-rays is known. In this energy dispersive X-ray analysis method, an electron beam is incident on a sample, and characteristic X-rays excited and emitted from the sample are measured with a semiconductor detector installed in the vicinity of the sample. The energy of this characteristic X-ray is unique to the element, and the element that emitted X-rays can be identified from the energy measurement.

In this technical field, with the recent miniaturization of semiconductor devices, higher resolution analysis is required in a minute region of several nanometers, and an analysis method that responds to this has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). ). According to Patent Document 1, it is possible to detect the electronic state of an element of interest using a superconducting detector including a superconductor.
JP-A-8-226904

  However, in the development of semiconductor devices, in addition to the requirement to observe the electronic state of such elements finely (in order to increase the resolution in a minute region), it is also possible to analyze the three-dimensional extent of the elements constituting the sample. It is desired.

  The three-dimensional analysis of the element distribution state includes a three-dimensional atom probe (Three Dimensional) that enables such analysis by measuring the position and time of flight of ions leaving the sample by applying an electric field. Atom Probe: hereinafter abbreviated as 3DAP).

  This 3DAP can detect all the constituent elements on the sample surface in a two-dimensional map with spatial resolution at the atomic level by detecting the position and time of flight of the above-mentioned desorption ions with a position sensitive detector. Is possible. Then, this can be expanded in the depth direction, and the element distribution can be observed three-dimensionally.

  An example of general 3DAP is shown in FIG. In 3DAP, as shown in the figure, a high electric field is applied to a sample 1 made of a structure (needle structure) whose tip is processed into a needle shape, and the element is evaporated from the surface. Then, the position and flight time of the element (detached ions 5) separated by this field evaporation are measured by the position sensitive detector 2 and the timer 7 described above. The type of element is identified by this flight time.

  In such 3DAP analysis, it is necessary to observe the state of the sample before or during the analysis. This observation is usually performed with an electron microscope such as a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Therefore, when the observation is performed, the sample is moved between the 3DAP device and the electron microscope, and at the same time, the sample is attached to and removed from the analyzer.

  During this movement, there has been a problem that the sample is contaminated in the air during the movement, or the sample is deformed due to vibration generated during the moving operation. In addition, when trying to confirm the shape change at the tip of the sample during the analysis by 3DAP, it was necessary to repeatedly attach and remove the sample a plurality of times, which was a major obstacle to high-accuracy measurement.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when analyzing a three-dimensional element configuration of a sample at an atomic level with high accuracy, it is unnecessary to move the sample during analysis. The object is to provide an elemental analyzer that does not require any work such as attachment and removal.

  With regard to the above problems, the present inventor has made the main function of 3DAP capable of analyzing a three-dimensional element configuration with high accuracy in an electron microscope (preferably a transmission electron microscope capable of observing a fine surface state). As a result, it was found that the problem can be solved, and the present invention has been made.

  That is, the present invention shows such a solution, and according to one aspect thereof, the sample holder of the present invention is a sample holder for an electron microscope on which a measurement object is mounted, A housing having an opening through which an electron beam applied to the measurement body can pass; and a detection unit that is provided inside the housing and measures the position and time of flight of the element detached from the body to be measured. It is characterized by.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, an elemental analysis apparatus of the present invention is an elemental analysis apparatus for analyzing an element of a measured object, and includes a sample chamber in which a sample holder for mounting the measured object is installed. An electron microscope, and a sample holder installed in the sample chamber. The sample holder is provided in a housing having an opening through which an electron beam applied to the object to be measured passes. And detecting means for measuring the position and time of flight of the element detached from the object to be measured.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, an electron microscope of the present invention is an electron microscope having a sample chamber in which a measured object is placed and irradiating the measured object with an electron beam, the sample chamber And detecting means for measuring the position and time of flight of the element detached from the object to be measured.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, the elemental analysis method of the present invention is an elemental analysis method for analyzing an element of the measured object using an electron microscope in which a sample holder on which the measured object is mounted is installed. The step of irradiating the object to be measured with an opening provided in the case of the sample holder and observing the surface of the object to be measured with the electron microscope, and the inside of the case. And a step of measuring the position and flight time of the element detached from the measured object by a detecting means capable of measuring the position and flight time of the element detached from the measured object.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to move the sample during analysis, and operations such as attaching and detaching the sample are unnecessary. As a result, problems such as contamination of the sample (object to be measured) in the air during movement, or deformation of the sample due to vibration generated during the transfer work are eliminated, and the three-dimensional element structure of the sample is eliminated. Can be analyzed with high accuracy at the atomic level.

  Below, the detail which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated, referring drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a sample holder for an electron microscope according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a view of the sample holder 10 as viewed from above, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the dividing line X-X ′ in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the main function of 3DAP capable of analyzing the three-dimensional element configuration with high accuracy is added to the sample holder 10. For example, the casing 16 which is an outer cylinder of the sample holder 10 is made of a material such as brass having a predetermined strength, and a positioning ball 29 is provided at the tip thereof. The positioning balls 29 are balls made of sapphire having high hardness.

  A probe 11 that is a needle-like structure cut out from a sample and a support member 21 that supports the probe 11 are mounted inside the housing 16, and the support member 21 has a fulcrum 17 as a fulcrum ( The end opposite to the probe 11 is fixed by a drive unit 20 including an XY direction piezo 18 and a Z direction piezo 19.

  Here, the coordinate axes X, Y, and Z directions are directions orthogonal to each other as shown in FIG. In the figure, “○” in “○” is an arrow from the back of the page to the front, and “X” in “○” is from the front to the front of the page. It shall mean an arrow heading.

  The XY direction piezo 18 is a drive unit having a function of moving the support member 21 and the probe 11 along the X and Y coordinate axes, and the Z direction piezo 19 is configured to move the support member 21 and the probe 11 to the Z coordinate axis. It is a drive part provided with the function to move along. In addition, this drive part 20 is controlled by the control circuit which is not shown in figure from the exterior of the electron microscope in which this sample holder 10 is mounted, for example.

  Since these drive units 20 need to control minute displacements, the drive source of these (XY direction piezo 18 and Z direction piezo 19) is a piezo actuator element used in an ink jet printer or the like. Is preferred. Furthermore, a known piezoresistive element may be used in combination as a mechanism for detecting the amount of displacement.

  In addition, detection means for measuring the position of the element detached from the probe 11 and the flight time is installed inside the housing (outer cylinder) 16. As main mechanisms included in the detection means, there are a position sensitive detector 15 that detects an element (detached ions) detached from the probe 11 and a timer 27 that measures the flight time of the detached ions.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1B, the position sensitive detector 15 is mounted in the tip direction of the probe 11, that is, on the side where the positioning ball 29 is installed. This position sensitive detector 15 is a combination of the two-dimensional position detector 13 and the multi-channel plate 14, and measures the position and flight time of an element detached from the probe 11 together with a timer 27. The timer 27 is electrically connected to the power source 23 and the position sensitive detector 15.

  A predetermined distance, for example, a distance of about 10 mm is required between the probe 11 and the position sensitive detector 15 as shown in FIG.

  The power source 23 applies a DC bias voltage to the probe 11 so that ions are easily released from the surface of the probe 11 and applies a pulse voltage to the probe 11. By applying this pulse voltage, the element is ionized and separated from the tip of the probe 11, and the detached ions reach the position sensitive detector 15.

  The power source 23 does not necessarily have to be inside the housing, and the main body 23-1 of the power source 23 may be arranged outside the housing 16 and the wiring 23-2 may be drawn into the housing 16. .

  The sample holder 10 having such a configuration is irradiated with an electron beam toward the sample 11 from the direction of the arrow in the drawing. The arrow in the figure indicates the electron beam 25. Openings 28 and 28 ′ through which the electron beam 25 passes are provided at the upper and lower portions of the sample holder 10.

  In addition, the inside of the electron microscope in which this sample holder 10 is installed is normally maintained in a state close to a vacuum.

  Moreover, the dotted line 26 surrounding the probe 11 in the figure is a place where the sample in the conventional electron microscope was installed. When the positioning ball 29 of the sample holder 10 is brought into contact with a wall (not shown) in the electron microscope, the probe 11 is set correctly at the conventional sample setting place 26. At this time, the fine adjustment of the position of the probe 11 which is further required is performed by the drive unit 20 described above.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing an electron microscope 30 on which the sample holder 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted. Here, a description will be given using an example of a general transmission electron microscope. As shown in the figure, an electron gun 31 that emits an electron beam (electron beam) is disposed at the top of the apparatus, and an acceleration tube 32 that accelerates the electron beam stepwise in the traveling direction of the electron beam, A condenser lens 33 for collecting light, a sample chamber 34 for setting a sample, and the like are provided.

  The sample holder 10 of the present invention is installed in the sample chamber 34. FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view of the sample chamber 34 of the electron microscope 30. Thus, the sample chamber 34 is a space between the objective lenses 35 and 36, and the sample holder 51 is inserted from the side (in the direction of the arrow in the figure).

  The sample holder 51 shown in FIG. 3 is a conventional mesh type sample holder in which a sample is mounted on the mesh 52. When measurement is performed with the electron microscope 30, a sample (not shown) is placed near the center of the mesh 52, and an electron beam 55 is irradiated as shown in the figure.

  Such a sample holder can be inserted into the sample chamber 34 and pulled out from the sample chamber 34 with the sample mounted, and thus has an advantage that the sample can be easily replaced.

  Returning to FIG. 2, an intermediate lens 37, a projection lens 38, and a fluorescent plate 39 as an image plane of the sample image are provided in the traveling direction of the electron beam transmitted through the sample chamber 34.

  The electron microscope 30 described here operates as follows. First, the electron beam is accelerated stepwise by the accelerating tube 32 after exiting the electron gun 31. Then, the light is condensed by the condensation lens 33 and the one objective lens 35 and irradiated on the sample in the sample chamber 34. After passing through the sample, the electron beam is repeatedly condensed by the other objective lens 36, intermediate lens 37, and projection lens 38, forms an image on the fluorescent plate 39, and an enlarged image of the sample surface is displayed.

  Next, an example in which the position sensitive detector 15 is separated from the mechanism of the sample holder 10 and installed on the electron microscope 30 side will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a sample holder according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the position sensitive detector 15 is attached to an installation member 58 fixed to the inner wall (not shown) of the electron microscope 30. The mechanisms other than the position sensitive detector 15 are installed on the sample holder 40 side. Similar to the conventional sample holder 51 shown in FIG. 3, the sample holder 40 is inserted from the direction of the arrow in the figure.

-Examples of elemental analysis methods-
Elemental analysis using the sample holder 10 (or sample holder 40) of Example 1 and Example 2 is performed by the following method. Since the sample holder 40 and the sample holder 10 are the same method, the following explanation is representatively described with the sample holder 10 and description of the sample holder 40 is omitted.

  First, after the probe 11 is correctly installed at a predetermined location, an electron beam (from the electron microscope in which the sample holder 10 is installed) is provided from the openings 28 and 28 ′ provided in the housing 16 of the sample holder 10. 25 is irradiated to the probe 11 and the surface of the probe 11 is observed with an electron microscope.

  Next, the element configuration of the probe 11 is measured using the 3DAP function provided in the sample holder 10. If necessary, the surface of the probe 11 is again observed with an electron microscope during the main measurement.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the 3DAP function capable of analyzing the three-dimensional element configuration with high accuracy is added to the electron microscope capable of observing the fine surface state, Analyze the three-dimensional structure of the sample with high accuracy at the atomic level without causing problems such as contamination of the measurement object) in the atmosphere or deformation of the sample due to vibration generated during the transfer work. It becomes possible to do.

  As an application example of the present invention, for example, composition analysis of impurity concentration for gallium arsenide (GaAs) or the like is typical, but in addition, a multilayer thin film for a GMR element used in a hard disk drive (HDD) or the like. It can also be used for three-dimensional structural analysis of laminated structures and the like.

These are the schematic block diagrams which show the sample holder for electron microscopes which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. These are the schematic sectional drawings which show the electron microscope which mounts the sample holder which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. These are the schematic which expanded the sample chamber 34 of the electron microscope. These are the schematic diagrams of the sample holder which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. These are the figures which showed typical 3DAP typically.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sample 2, 15 ... Position sensitive type detector 3 ... Power source 5 ... Separation ion 7, 27 ... Timer 10, 40, 51 ... Sample holder 11 ... Probe 13 ... Two-dimensional position detector 14 ... Multichannel plate 16 ... Housing 17 ... fulcrum 18 ... XY direction piezo 19 ... Z direction piezo 20 ... driving unit 21 ... support member 23 ... power source 23-1 ... main body 23-2 ... wiring 25, 55 ... electron beam 26 ... conventional sample installation place 28 28 '... opening 29 ... positioning ball 30 ... electron microscope 31 ... electron gun 32 ... acceleration tube 33 ... condenser lens 34 ... sample chamber 35, 36 ... objective lens 37 ... intermediate lens 38 ... projection lens 39 ... fluorescent plate 52 ... mesh 58 ... Installation member

Claims (5)

In a sample holder for an electron microscope equipped with a measurement object,
A housing having an opening through which an electron beam applied to the object to be measured can pass;
A sample holder provided inside the casing and having a detecting means for measuring a position and a flight time of an element detached from the object to be measured. The sample holder according to claim 1, further comprising a drive unit that moves the object to be measured. In an elemental analyzer that analyzes the elements of a measured object,
An electron microscope having a sample chamber in which a sample holder for mounting the object to be measured is installed, and a sample holder installed in the sample chamber;
The sample holder is
A housing having an opening through which an electron beam applied to the object to be measured passes; and a detecting means for measuring a position and a flight time of an element inside the housing and detached from the object to be measured. Elemental analysis device characterized by In an electron microscope having a sample chamber in which a measurement object is placed and irradiating the measurement object with an electron beam,
An electron microscope comprising a detecting means for measuring a position and a flight time of an element detached from the object to be measured installed in the sample chamber. In an elemental analysis method for analyzing an element of the measurement object using an electron microscope in which a sample holder on which the measurement object is mounted is installed,
Irradiating the measurement object with the electron beam from an opening provided in the housing of the sample holder, and observing the surface of the measurement object with the electron microscope;
Measuring the position and flight time of an element detached from the object to be measured by a detection means capable of measuring the position and flight time of the element detached from the object to be measured inside the casing. Elemental analysis method characterized by this.

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