Electrical Failure Analysis

Electrical failure analysis in electron microscopes is a crucial investigative technique across various industries, like semiconductor manufacturing, automotive, electronics manufacturing, medical devices or renewable energies. Analysts use it to detect microscopic defects, visualize internal structures of components, to enhance the design and manufacturing processes and in the end to improve the reliability and performance of electronic devices.

This EFA system allows fast and easy localisation with live colour mix during navigation. It offers the widest range of EFA cases with in-situ electronics for low impedance failures and the best images for reports and analysis, with dedicated image acquisition. The EFA system includes easy-to-use, fully automated calibration for current measurements.

The system consists of hardware, software and selectable options.

EFA techniques

• Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC)
• Electron Beam Absorbed Current (EBAC)
• Resistive Contrast Imaging (EBAC/RCI)
• Electron Beam Induced Resistance Change (EBIRCh)

Interconnects characterisation

• Reveal electrical integrity of nets with sub-micron lateral resolution and bridge from EFA to PFA
• Diagnose fabrication and long term issues, including contamination, metal patterning defects, resistive interconnectors, or electro-migration
• Directly isolate defects to the exact layer and die location
• Improve time to product improvement actions

Junction and defects mapping

• Correlate structural defects with electrical activity
• Map active areas of junctions and electrical fields
• Validate doping profiles and areas

Exact localisation

• Localize metal line cuts caused by cracking, corrosion, electro-migration, or foreign particles
• Identify resistive opens caused by interface contamination at via interconnects
• Pinpoint location for direct TEM lamella FIB preparation

Dielectric layer defect localization

• Visualise and localise weaknesses in gate oxide (GOX) and capacitor oxide (COX) before breakdown
• Pinpoint oxide shorts caused by ESD or EOS with sub-micron resolution
• Preserve the original defect signature with power dissipation in the lower nW range during localization

Built-in biasing and live colour

• Image junctions and fields in delayered devices
• Map electrical activity of solar cells under bias
• Compare imaged behaviour with device modelling