Failure Analysis on MIM capacitor failures of RF devices using simple circuit edit passive voltage contrast method

Abstract

Failure analysis in radio frequency (RF) devices are becoming more increasingly complex and challenging with the scaling of technology. One of the most commonly used passive components in analog and mixed-signal devices is the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors [1]. Failure analysis (FA) in such capacitors is challenging. In our previous paper, we introduced and applied a simple circuit edit passive voltage contrast (CE-PVC) technique in failure analysis [2]. This technique uses a conventional scanning electron microscope (SEM) and platinum deposition that is readily available in most labs SEM to manipulate passive voltage contrasts through minor, reversible circuit editing. In this paper, this technique was further expanded to resolve MIM structure failures on RF devices. This paper successfully demonstrated and resolved two different failures, open-related and short defects with the CE-PVC technique.