Emissivity-corrected infrared thermal pulse measurement on microscopic semiconductor targets

The precision measurement and recording of high speed thermal transients on microscopic targets is critical to the manufacturing of semiconductors and other electronic devices as thermal budgets become ever more demanding and devices become more compact and powerful. This paper describes the fully automated emissivity-corrected measurement of high speed thermal pulses at speeds up to 200KHz representing the newest innovation in almost 25 years of thermal microimager evolution. Sample thermal images and time-based thermal scans are presented demonstrating the use of this transient measurement capability in the detection and identification of design and process defects. The documentation of a measurement spatial resolution of better than 3 micrometers is also reviewed.