Whole-Chip Delayering for Failure Analysis and Quality Assurance

Integrated chip (IC) failure analysis relies on several commonly used techniques. This includes focused ion beam (FIB), mechanical polishing, and chemical etching. These techniques take an impractical amount of time to perform an area etch; although, if a defect site is known in advance, the site can be imaged faster.

Broad ion beam delayering is a versatile technique for whole-chip failure analysis. The large area of uniformity coupled with the ability to precisely stop at the layer of interest enables rapid whole-chip defect detection.

In this technical paper featured in EDFA Magazine, learn more about:

• Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and its use of a quadrupole mass spectrometer to measure the masses of ions entering an instrument
• The mainly physical process of sputter yield which is the average number of substrate atoms kicked out per incident atom
• The requirements of mechanical polishing such as the special test stand to ensure parallel delayering

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