Electron Beam and Photoemission Probing

Abstract

Electron beam testing (EBT) is the most widely used contactless probing technique for internal timing characterization and for diagnostic of digital integrated circuits. This technique uses an electron beam to stimulate secondary electron emission from metallized surfaces. It uses the energy distribution function of the released secondary electrons which is in turn a function of the voltage at the test point. A very attractive feature of EBT is the quick and easy positioning of the electron beam probe and the possibility of making micrographs at any desired location in short time. It is the most industrially developed contactless testing technique. The photoemissive probe, on the other hand, uses a pulsed optical beam of a certain energy to probe a signal on a metal line of any substrate. The optical beam causes photoelectrons to be emitted from the top layer of a metal from which the waveform of the signal is derived.