Four-wave dark-field electron holography for imaging strain fields

Strain characterization by transmission electron microscopy is an active area of research especially for microelectronics applications. Two-wave dark-field electron holography (DFEH) was previously introduced as a reliable strain mapping technique. Here, DFEH with four electron waves was investigated in order to image equi-displacement lines as amplitude modulations of the holographic fringes. Two perpendicular electrostatic biprisms are used to interfere three reference waves diffracted by a substrate and one object wave diffracted by an epitaxially strained region. This technique provides a different way to represent the displacement field. It might be helpful to obtain information about the strain state during in situ experiments. A dummy p-MOSFET device with embedded SiGe source and drain is used for experimental demonstration.