About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
IBM J. Res. Dev
Paper
Picosecond photoelectron microscope for high-speed testing of integrated circuits
Abstract
The performance of devices and circuits is advancing at a rapid pace with the advent of submicron design ground rules and switching times under 50 ps. The requirements for probing the internal nodes of these ultra-fast, -small, and -dense circuits give rise to great challenges for high-speed electron-beam testing. In this paper, we review the steps which have allowed electron-beam testing to achieve simultaneously 5-ps temporal resolution, 0.1-μm spot size, and 3 mV/√Hz voltage sensitivity. The resulting newly developed instrument, called the picosecond photoelectron scanning electron microscope (PPSEM), is capable of measuring the state-of-the-art bipolar and FET circuits and also VLSI passive interconnects.