Abstract
Thin slices of Si integrated circuit samples of about 100 nm to a couple of hundred nanometers containing process related defects have been prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) for high spatial resolution X-ray microanalysis. The X-ray signals from the bulk are minimised to enhance the signal-to-background ratio of the defects which are in the sub-micron range. The experimental results were also compared to those by a Monte Carlo simulation.