Trends in Discrete Power MOSFET and Power System In-Package Fault Isolation

Abstract

Abstract Photoluminescence, defect-band emission, and Lock-in Infrared Thermography (LIT) generally enable the correlation of multi-crystalline silicon defect types. Long Wavelength Infrared (LWIR) thermal imaging has traditionally seen limited application in failure analysis. LWIR cameras are typically uncooled systems using a microbolometer Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) commonly used in industrial IR applications, although cooled LWIR cameras using Mercury Cadmium Tellurium (MCT) detectors exists as well. On the contrary, the majority of the MWIR cameras require cooling, using either liquid nitrogen or a Stirling cycle cooler. Cooling to approximately −196 °C (77 K), offers excellent thermal resolution, but it may restrict the span of applications to controlled environments. Recent developments in LWIR uncooled and unstabilized micro-bolometer technology combined with microscopic IR lens design advancements are presented as an alternative solution for viable low-level leakage (LLL) defect localization and circuit characterization. The 30 micron pitch amorphous silicon type detector used in these analyses, rather than vanadium oxide (VOx), has sensitivity less than 50mK at 25C. Case studies reported demonstrate LWIR enhanced package-level and die-level defect localization contrasted with other quantum and thermal detectors in localization systems.