Ion beam induced charge imaging for the failure analysis of semiconductor devices

Abstract

Ion Beam Induced Charge (IBIC) imaging is an emerging technique with potential applications in failure analysis of semiconductor devices. The large penetration depth of the high energy proton beams used in IBIC ensures accessibility of active device regions in multilevel metal chips unlike the low energy electron beam in the SEM based Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) imaging technique. New contrast mechanisms observed for the first time in IBIC imaging are presented. IBIC images are compared with the EBIC images and it is shown that additional contrast mechanisms occurring in IBIC enable it to be used as a useful failure analysis tool.