An Application Of Focused Ion Beams To Electron Beam Testing Of Integrated Circuits

Abstract

One of the applications of high current density, focused ion beams (FIB) that has been made possible by the advent of the liquid metal ion source (LMIS) is milling of micron sized structures. In this study we examine the prospect of using a FIB system to selectively remove the passivation layer from IC's in order to carry out quantitative voltage contrast measurements on the conductors thus exposed.