M&M 2025 Poster Presentation

Abstract: The need for transmission electron microscopy imaging has grown significantly in recent years as it is one of the few tools with the spatial resolution necessary to resolve the nanoscale features of devices, thin films, and nanostructures fabricated with cutting-edge processes. To meet ever growing demand, several systems have been developed for autonomous TEM operation, each with slightly different features based on the target setting for operation. Commercial systems targeted at a semiconductor fab are aimed at imaging nanoscale devices generally appearing in a line across the top of a lamella or 3D NAND capacitors in plan-view for the purpose of detailed metrology [1,2]. Systems developed in research laboratories are designed to perform more exotic or long duration experiments encompassing unknown structures such as collecting statistics from nanoparticle samples [3, 4] or to identify features exhibiting specific properties based on diffraction or spectroscopy [5-7]. Among these systems, there is a gap in meeting the needs of a commercial laboratory which sees a wider range of sample structures than the fab but does not require the tailored scientific approach of a research laboratory. In this work, we demonstrate a system for autonomous STEM imaging which can target features over a wide range of geometries or length scales and while maintaining a streamlined approach that allows it to quickly complete imaging jobs with limited recipe specification from end-users.