Failure analysis case studies using the IR-OBIRCH (infrared optical beam induced resistance change) method

Abstract

The IR-OBIRCH (infrared optical beam induced resistance change) method was proposed and developed by Nikawa and Tozaki in 1993 and this method has been shown to be applicable for detecting defects and current paths by using test structures and/or artificial failures. Here we present the results of the actual failure analysis from real failures of DRAMs, ASICs, power MOSFETs and microcomputers, which failed during mass production, development, user tests, and ESD simulation. In the analysis of a microcomputers we applied test vectors from an ATE docked to the IR-OBIRCH system, in order to reproduce the failure state during IR-OBIRCH imaging. The results showed that the IR-OBIRCH is suitable not only for improving reliability but also for increasing yield.