High-level tools and methods for electron-beam debug and failure analysis of integrated circuits

D. Conard (1) , B. Courtois (1) , J. Laurent (1) , M. Marzouki (1)

1 TIMA - Techniques de l'Informatique et de la Microélectronique pour l'Architecture des systèmes intégrés

A current research project at IMAG/TIM3 Laboratory aims at developing an integrated test system combining the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), used in the voltage contrast mode, with a new high-level approach fault location in complex VLSI circuits, in order to obtain a completely automated diagnosis process. The two research themes of this project are: prototype validation of known circuits, on which CAD information is available, and failure analysis of unknown circuits, which are compared to reference circuits. For prototype validation, a knowledge-based approach to fault location is used. Concerning failure analysis, automatic image comparison based on pattern recognition techniques is performed. The authors present these two methodologies, focusing on the SEM-based data acquisition process.

Mots clés: high-level-tools; electron-beam-debug; failure-analysis; integrated-circuits; IMAG-TIM3-Laboratory; integrated-test-system; scanning-electron-microscope; voltage-contrast-mode; fault-location; VLSI-circuits; automated-diagnosis-process; prototype-validation; CAD-information; reference-circuits; knowledge-based-approach; automatic-image-comparison; pattern-recognition; SEM-based-data-acquisition-process

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

D. Conard, B. Courtois, J. Laurent, M. Marzouki. High-level tools and methods for electron-beam debug and failure analysis of integrated circuits. Periodica-Polytechnica, 1990, 34(4), pp.281-304. ⟨hal-00007963⟩