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Reliability & Failure Analysis: Fault Localization

The document discusses techniques for localizing faults in VLSI components. It describes four main techniques: 1) Mechanical probing uses thin metal needles to measure voltages and currents to isolate failures. 2) Thermal methods detect defects that cause localized heating using infrared imaging or liquid crystals. 3) Photon emission microscopy detects light emitted from defects under operation. 4) Electron beam methods leverage an electron beam's ability to interact with and localize effects within an integrated circuit. Each technique has benefits and drawbacks for precisely locating nanoscale defects.

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Ashraf Yusof
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107 views25 pages

Reliability & Failure Analysis: Fault Localization

The document discusses techniques for localizing faults in VLSI components. It describes four main techniques: 1) Mechanical probing uses thin metal needles to measure voltages and currents to isolate failures. 2) Thermal methods detect defects that cause localized heating using infrared imaging or liquid crystals. 3) Photon emission microscopy detects light emitted from defects under operation. 4) Electron beam methods leverage an electron beam's ability to interact with and localize effects within an integrated circuit. Each technique has benefits and drawbacks for precisely locating nanoscale defects.

Uploaded by

Ashraf Yusof
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RELIABILITY &

FAILURE ANALYSIS
SEM 2 2020/2021

FAULT LOCALIZATION
• The size and complexity of modern VLSI components and
defects of nanometric proportions make it imperative to
accurately localize faults prior to any destructive analysis.

• The failure analysis challenge would be to locate and


identify this defect, knowing only its electrical effects on the
chip and perhaps secondary characteristics such as
INTRODUCTION temperature and voltage sensitivity.

• The fault can be localized to the nearest logic block or circuit


net, or in some cases directly to the responsible defect’s
physical location.
INTRODUCTION

Multi-level of metallization – reduces observability and node access.


INTRODUCTION

Intel’s 14nm Broadwell chip reverse engineered, reveals impressive


FinFETs, 13-layer design
INTRODUCTION

Microprocessor shown at actual size; compared to [2] a defect shown


magnified 50,000 time
• Techniques that are generally used for failure site isolation
are:

(a) mechanical probing


(b) thermal methods (detect defects which exhibits localized
heating - hot spot or local temperature rise)
INTRODUCTION (c) photon-based methods (detect defects which exhibits
light)
(d) electron beam-based (takes advantage of light beam
ability to interact with an IC and localize the effects of
this interaction)
• Use thin metal needles
(microprobes) to measure
voltages.

• Measurement may be done at


low or elevated temperature.
MECHANICAL
PROBING • Additional accessories include
pulse generator, oscilloscope,
parametric analyzer and curve
tracer
MECHANICAL
PROBING

Mechanical probe station


Detect failure such as open/floating signal net in IC devices by net signal tracing
• Mechanical probing, making electrical contact with the
feature of interest through physical contact.

• Multiple probes can source and measure voltages and


MECHANICAL currents more precisely than any other technology.

PROBING • They work reliably through a wide voltage range, can be


used over a frequency range from DC to RF, can pick up
transient and one-shot signals, cost much less than other
probing options and make use of established, well-
understood technology.
Drawback:

MECHANICAL • Difficult to align probes through an optical microscope.

PROBING • And the two things that restrict the usability of the optical
microscope for submicron-geometry devices are its limited
depth of field and resolving power.
• Thermal method are being used to detect defects which
exhibits localized heating (hot spot or local temperature
rise).

• Many defect types result in higher power supply currents,


which generate heat during operation.

THERMAL • Localized heating is commonly caused by low-resistance


leakage paths and shorts between conductors associated
METHOD with the excess current flow at the defect site.

• Heated object emits radiation. The wavelength depends


on temperature. Most of these radiation is in the infra-red.

• Systems to detect this power dissipation can be


characterized by their sensitivity to thermal changes.
(a) Infrared (IR) thermal techniques - earliest available
techniques that calculate the temperature of an object
from its infra-red emission

(b) Liquid crystals (LC) technique - provide a binary


response indicating if the hot area is above the crystal’s
TYPES OF transition temperature or not
THERMAL
(c) Fluorescent microthermal imaging technique (FMI) - A
TECHNIQUES thin layer of a UV-fluorescent, Europium based
compound is painted onto the surface of a
semiconductor die. The part is then placed under a
light emission microscope, which uses a high-gain
camera to analyze the light emitted by the fluorescent
ink. The change in fluorescence due to the heat caused
by the leakage can be exactly pinpointed, thereby
isolating the failure site.
Infra-red thermography is the process of using a thermal
imager to detect radiation from an object

INFRA-RED
THERMAL
TECHNIQUES

This image shows residues of a TiN barrier layer which were not completely
etched away (arrow) and finally lead to short.
INFRA-RED
THERMAL
TECHNIQUES
INFRA-RED
THERMAL
TECHNIQUES
• To understand how LC works, it is important to understand the
concept of light polarization

• Liquid crystals (LCs) are a state of matter that have properties


between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid
crystal. For instance, an LC may flow like a liquid, but its
molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way.

LIQUID CRYSTAL • In LC analysis, a nematic liquid crystals is being used to coat the
device under test (DUT). A nematic liquid crystal is a transparent
(LC) ANALYSIS or translucent liquid that causes the polarization waves to
change as the waves pass through the liquid. The extent of the
change in polarization depends on the intensity of an applied
electric fields.

• Nematic liquid crystals have two distinct liquid phases. The


temperature dividing the two phases is called the clearing point.
• The chip (or wafer) is first placed on a temperature-
controlled chuck.

• An IC is then coated with a thin film of liquid crystal and


observed with polarized light while power is applied to the
chip.
LIQUID CRYSTAL
(LC) ANALYSIS • The microscope image of an object illuminated with
polarized light and viewed through a cross polarizer is very
dark, because the cross polarizer blocks most of the light.

• However, a thin film of LC below its clearing point


effectively twists and rotates the light as it passes through
the films. The image will appear as bright.
• The crystals are temperature sensitive and change
polarization only in the area of the temperature rise, with
a resolution of about 0.1°C.
LIQUID
CRYSTAL(LC) • Depending on ambient temperature, 20 to 30 mW of
ANALYSIS power may be required to create a discernible spot (If the
ambient temperature is increased to a temperature just
below the clearing point, 10 to 100 µW may be enough to
produce a visible hot spot).
• By using the LC technique, one can identify failure
locations caused by abnormal leakage or high power
supply current in the mA region.

LIQUID CRYSTAL • Excessive heating indicates a high current flow, which may
(LC) ANALYSIS be due to die defects or abnormalities like dielectric
ruptures, metallization shorts and leaky junctions
The curve
tracer
provides
the best
source of
power
for the DUT
LIQUID CRYSTAL because it
can
(LC) ANALYSIS accurately
monitor
current and
voltages
Equipment setup for liquid crystal hot spot detection
(Reproduced from http://www.tmworld.com/article/CA187530.html)
LIQUID CRYSTAL
(LC) ANALYSIS

Example of a thin oxide defect on an IC detected with liquid


crystal
(Reproduced from courtesy of Analytical Solution)
• Some defect sites emit light during operation (which signify high
current and reverse biased breakdown) which would otherwise
be absent in a normal device.
• Photoemission microscopy, or light emission microscopy (LEM),
PHOTON is a failure analysis technique for detecting photonic radiation
EMISSION from a defect site, primarily due to carrier recombination
mechanisms.
MICROSCOPY • Photon emission is typically a result of direct recombination of
electron-hole pairs, thus defects with leakage profile will
(PEM) enhance further the recombination process.
• Such light / photo emissions are not visible to the naked eye.
• PEM therefore involves in collecting and imaging the light given
off from these ICs.
• In general, photoemission microscopy uses a powerful image
intensification technology to amplify the light emitted by such
defect sites, therefore useful in locating defects that exhibit
light emissions
PHOTON
EMISSION
MICROSCOPY
(PEM)

Location of leakage current in MEMS microphone


diaphragm.
PHOTON
EMISSION
MICROSCOPY
(PEM)

Failure of CMOS A to D converter


Question 1

What are the factors that affect the results of


Q TIME!! the LC analysis?

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