Diagnosis meets physical failure analysis: How long can we succeed?

Abstract

The use of imaging techniques for getting picture of the defect causing failure on a product-level test was investigated. The physical failure analysis (PFA) process makes it increasingly difficult to get such pictures, as failure modes themselves become less amenable to the same. It is observed that the industry has to rely upon failure root cause information that cannot be conveyed via a physical-failure-analysis-produced picture. It is suggested that innovative use of process monitors, test structures and circuit-behavior/ simulation-based points to failure root cause must be exploited and trusted as high-fidelity guides to yield learning.