Non-invasive strain mapping in Si-nitride strain liners on silicon

We aim for a non-invasive, microscopic characterization of lattice strain that is introduced into silicon by Si-nitride based stress liners for the purpose of enhanced carrier mobility in modern FET devices. An observed disagreement between strain values obtained from simulation and electron diffraction measurements may be attributed to the destructive preparation that is required. Therefore we propose to perform nano-beam scanning X-ray diffraction measurements as the only non-destructive technique to image the strain distribution of buried layers