Reliability tests, such as Time-Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB), High-Temperature Operating Life (HTOL), Hot Carrier Injection (HCI), etc., is required for the lifetime prediction of an integrated circuit (IC) product. Those reliability tests are more stringent and complex especially for automotive Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (CMOS) devices, this because it involves human lives and safety. In foundries failure analysis (FA), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis often required in order to provide insights into the defect mechanisms and the root cause of the reliability tests. In this paper, application of high resolution Nano-probing Electron Beam Absorbance Current (EBAC), Nano-probing active passive voltage contrast (APVC), and TEM with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) to identify the failing root cause of Inter- Poly Oxide (IPO) TDDB failure on an automotive grade Non- Volatile Memory (NVM) device was investigated. We have successfully demonstrated that TEM analysis after Nanoprobing EBAC/APVC fault isolation is an effective technique to reveal the failure root cause of IPO breakdown after reliability stresses.
The global radio frequency (RF) semiconductor market size is growing dramatically in recent years, especially with the growing demand for mobile devices, communication networks, automotive applications, etc. Failure analysis (FA) on RF devices is normally more complex than digital devices, especially when it involves soft failure. This paper discusses FA on an RF product soft failure issue by the pulsed currentvoltage (IV) nanoprobing technique. The device suffered from high-frequency failure and exhibited abnormal repetitive softstart signature. Previous publications on pulsed IV nanoprobing applications were mostly related to Front End Of Line (FEOL) issues and simulations. In most of these cases, the electrical abnormality could also be observed with normal DC IV measurement. In this paper, the pulsed IV nanoprobing was performed at the Back End Of Line (BEOL) interconnects to isolate the failure that was otherwise not detected with normal DC nanoprobing or the reported pulse IV measurement. The proposed method successfully isolate, simulate the failure, and helping us to identify the process and design rule weakness.
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