ICFAX, an integrated circuit failure analysis expert system

Abstract

An expert system to aid in the analysis of failed integrated circuits has been developed. The integrated circuit failure analysis expert system (ICFAX) captures a substantial portion of the procedural knowledge necessary to successfully analyze CMOS integrated circuit failures. ICFAX is designed to apply generically to all types of CMOS ICs. ICFAX also contains general information on how to analyze components as well as product specific information, including schematics, layout plots, product specifications, and fabrication data. The expert system centralizes textual and graphical knowledge about failure analysis, increasing the analyst's productivity and ability to determine the failure.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>