Improved understanding of physical defect mechanisms using fault simulation

Failure mechanisms in highly integrated designs are becoming more subtle, making them difficult to locate and understand. Successful analysis requires the precise location of the anomaly in three dimensions, prior to physical analysis, when strip and inspect techniques do not yield a failure mechanism. This paper presents a technique whereby simulations of hypothesized defects, in combination with I-V curves obtained by electrical microprobing, aid in locating physical defects. Given the exact location, techniques requiring that the physical and chemical sample integrity be maintained, such as TEM and AES, can be employed to give insight into the failure mechanism. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd