High resolution and fast throughput-time X-ray computed tomography for semiconductor packaging applications

Li, Yan; Pacheco, Mario; Goyal, Deepak; Elmer, J. W.; Barth, Holly D.; Parkinson, Dilworth

doi:10.1109/ectc.2014.6897485

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The ability of a tomography technique to accommodate large sample sizes with faster TPT time is of the upmost importance to the semiconductor industry. The results obtained using SRµT suggest a path forward for new applications in microelectronics 14 . Overall there's a wide range of possibilities in this field for future work, specifically investigating these multi-material multi-scale microelectronic packages under in situ conditions, such as cycling temperature and cyclic loading.…”

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confidence: 88%

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Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

Carlton

Elmer

et al. 2016

JoVE

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Synchrotron radiation micro-tomography (SRµT) is a non-destructive three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique that offers high flux for fast data acquisition times with high spatial resolution. In the electronics industry there is serious interest in performing failure analysis on 3D microelectronic packages, many which contain multiple levels of high-density interconnections. Often in tomography there is a trade-off between image resolution and the volume of a sample that can be imaged. This inverse relationship limits the usefulness of conventional computed tomography (CT) systems since a microelectronic package is often large in cross sectional area 100-3,600 mm(2), but has important features on the micron scale. The micro-tomography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), in Berkeley, CA USA, has a setup which is adaptable and can be tailored to a sample's properties, i.e., density, thickness, etc., with a maximum allowable cross-section of 36 x 36 mm. This setup also has the option of being either monochromatic in the energy range ~7-43 keV or operating with maximum flux in white light mode using a polychromatic beam. Presented here are details of the experimental steps taken to image an entire 16 x 16 mm system within a package, in order to obtain 3D images of the system with a spatial resolution of 8.7 µm all within a scan time of less than 3 min. Also shown are results from packages scanned in different orientations and a sectioned package for higher resolution imaging. In contrast a conventional CT system would take hours to record data with potentially poorer resolution. Indeed, the ratio of field-of-view to throughput time is much higher when using the synchrotron radiation tomography setup. The description below of the experimental setup can be implemented and adapted for use with many other multi-materials.

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confidence: 88%

“…This study is used to demonstrate how SRµT can be utilized to image an entire multi-level system in package (SIP) with high resolution and low TPT (3-20 min) for use in inspecting 3D semiconductor packages. More details on comparing tabletop CT's to Synchrotron Source CT's can be found in references 13,14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

Carlton

Elmer

et al. 2016

JoVE

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“…X-ray methods based on synchotron sources are able to quickly image an entire IC and be used to reverse engineer an IC design with extreme precision. 83 The scaling laws 84 for ptychographic imaging will enable a spatial resolution of 2 nm, leading to the possible inspection of an entire 0.3 × 0.3 mm 2 IC at 50 nm resolution in 3 h. 85 Combining multiple ICs together makes any single failure of one component much more costly, and additional care must be taken to ensure traceability and tracking of all the parts of a modular chipset such as an SoC from the silicon wafer through production to the final tested die and package.…”

Section: Integrated Circuitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of THz-based semiconductor assurance

True

Jessurun

et al. 2021

Opt. Eng.

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Terahertz radiation for inspection and fault detection has been of interest for the semiconductor industry since the first generation and detection of THz signals. Until recent hardware advances, THz systems lacked the signal quality and reliability for use as an effective nondestructive testing (NDT) method. Incremental advances in THz sources, detectors, and signal processing resulted in the successful applied-industrial use of THz NDT techniques on carbon fiber laminates, automotive coatings, and for detection of counterfeit pharmaceutical tablets. Semiconductor inspection and verification methods ensure the functionality and thereby safety of vital electronics for several critical industries. For this reason, the reliability and verification of a THz NDT method must exceed currently used inspection systems. With recent laboratory access to THz radiation, THz inspection methods are often compared with existing optical, electrical, and volumetric semiconductor verification techniques for their production monitoring and failure analysis viability. This review will cover THz techniques and their applications at the printed circuit board (PCB), integrated circuit (IC), and transistor/gate scales. The THz radiation gap spans between optical and electronic ranges with a millimeter-sized wavelength allowing for adequate penetration of plastic and ceramic and semiconductor materials. THz radiation can be used to determine structural features, electrical signatures in the THz range, and chemical information simultaneously. Cost and environmental limitations restricted the ability for THz NDT semiconductor inspection methods to escape the lab and succeed in the dynamic environment of a semiconductor fabrication environment. Hybridized metrology methods incorporating information from multiple inspection tools are a regime where THz spectral and structural data can be combined with existing methods such as optical, x-ray, or E-beam. THz can be used initially to offer support to the complex failure analysis and verification requirements of the semiconductor industry from nanoscale to macroscale features and components. For THz systems to become independent inspection tools used for semiconductor production monitoring, in the lab or fab, this will require a confident level of statistical process control for THz signal generation, detection, or processing. Applied industrial semiconductor device inspection will likely be a result of a combination of research into THz hardware, reconstruction techniques, and the widespread application of machine learning techniques. Many breakthroughs occurred over the years to enable successful nondestructive characterization and inspection of semiconductor devices from the nanoscale transistors to fully packaged integrated circuits and assembled PCBs.

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“…Currently CT systems using laboratory-based sources, also known as tabletop, are able to provide as high as ~1 µm spatial resolution, and are being used to isolate failures in multilevel packages with promising results. However, tabletop CT systems have some limitations when compared to SRµT setups 13,14 . Tabletop systems are limited to only imaging a certain density range of materials since they usually only contain one or two x-ray source spectrums.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also through-put-time (TPT) remains long for conventional tabletop CT systems requiring several hours of data This study is used to demonstrate how SRµT can be utilized to image an entire multi-level system in package (SIP) with high resolution and low TPT (3-20 min) for use in inspecting 3D semiconductor packages. More details on comparing tabletop CT's to Synchrotron Source CT's can be found in references 13,14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

Carlton¹,

Elmer²,

Li³

et al. 2016

JoVE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Synchrotron radiation micro-tomography (SRµT) is a non-destructive three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique that offers high flux for fast data acquisition times with high spatial resolution. In the electronics industry there is serious interest in performing failure analysis on 3D microelectronic packages, many which contain multiple levels of high-density interconnections. Often in tomography there is a trade-off between image resolution and the volume of a sample that can be imaged. This inverse relationship limits the usefulness of conventional computed tomography (CT) systems since a microelectronic package is often large in cross sectional area 100-3,600 mm 2 , but has important features on the micron scale. The micro-tomography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), in Berkeley, CA USA, has a setup which is adaptable and can be tailored to a sample's properties, i.e., density, thickness, etc., with a maximum allowable cross-section of 36 x 36 mm. This setup also has the option of being either monochromatic in the energy range ~7-43 keV or operating with maximum flux in white light mode using a polychromatic beam. Presented here are details of the experimental steps taken to image an entire 16 x 16 mm system within a package, in order to obtain 3D images of the system with a spatial resolution of 8.7 µm all within a scan time of less than 3 min. Also shown are results from packages scanned in different orientations and a sectioned package for higher resolution imaging. In contrast a conventional CT system would take hours to record data with potentially poorer resolution. Indeed, the ratio of field-of-view to throughput time is much higher when using the synchrotron radiation tomography setup. The description below of the experimental setup can be implemented and adapted for use with many other multi-materials.

show abstract

High resolution and fast throughput-time X-ray computed tomography for semiconductor packaging applications

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

Review of THz-based semiconductor assurance

Using Synchrotron Radiation Microtomography to Investigate Multi-scale Three-dimensional Microelectronic Packages

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