Method to increase defect localization success rate on open failure by combining circuit layout analysis with photon emission microscopy

Fault isolation technique is crucial to determine the success rate in semiconductor failure analysis process. One of the most common and powerful technique is photon emission microscopy (PEM) which uses a sensitive camera (CCD or InGaAs camera) to detect any excessive electron-hole pair radioactive recombination activity from electrical biased device. However in some cases, the PEM defect localization hotspot location does not always match to the actual defect site. By combining PEM and circuit layout analysis, a method has been developed to increase defect localization success rate which will be presented in this paper.