A practical system for hot spot detection using fluorescent microthermal imaging

The Fluorescent Microthermal Imaging (FMI) technique was developed as a new failure analysis tool for hot spot localization on semiconductor devices. The goal was to produce a user-friendly and automated FMI system. The instrumentation was set up on a probe station. It involved a uv light source, a dark box, a motorized optical microscope, a slow scan cooled CCD camera, a temperature controller, electrical test equipment, and a PowerMacintosh computer with IPLab software for instrumentation control, image acquisition and image processing. Software extensions for IPLab were developed to add automated functions to the system using the GPIB-IEEE 488 bus. IPLab scripts were written to fully automate instrumentation control, image acquisition and processing. A study of EuTTA compound fluorescence was performed in order to characterize the system. The FMI technique was then applied to hot spot identification on microelectronic devices. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd