A logic analyzer tool that cuts e-beam prober acquisition times

The authors describe a novel tool that dramatically extends the usability of electron-beam probers for long duty cycle applications. The tool is modeled on a conventional logic analyzer (primarily for ease-of-use reasons). The tool comprises both hardware and software, and utilizes new sampling strategies which exploit fully the available detector bandwidth, thereby reducing dramatically typical signal acquisition times. The tool also provides, under certain circumstances, the ability to acquire intermittent signals. The proposed approach improves typical signal acquisition times by two orders of magnitude