Failure analysis of semiconductor components should not only be considered as an ever increasing costly activity which is economically difficult to support, to develop, and to justify, because of the continuous technology evolution. Analytical techniques such as integrated circuit pin‐to‐pin electrical test, plastic package opening with the acid dropper, hot spot detection with liquid crystals, EBIC, voltage contrast in static and voltage coding modes, can be developed and applied in failure analysis laboratories with low‐cost equipment. Although they are not intended to replace some well‐known expensive and sophisticated analytical tools, they can provide efficient results.
SRAM bitmapping and failure analysis have been used as a driver for continuous yield improvement during pre-qualification manufacturing of a microcontroller. The combination of the embedded SRAM electrical failure data and failure analysis results was used to generate a pareto of failure modes and failure mechanisms and establish a correlation between the two. Bitmap trend charts can be used as a manufacturing line monitoring tool to supplement traditional in-line inspection. Identification of manufacturing issues can be obtained from bit failure information and compared with in-line inspection results to quickly identify which specific process module is responsible for a significant yield loss.
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