High performance electron beam tester for voltage measurement on unpassivated and passivated devices

Author

Tokunaga, Yasuo ; Frosien, Jurgen

Author_Institution

Advantest Corp., Tokyo, Japan

fYear

1989

Firstpage

917

Lastpage

922

Abstract

An electron-beam tester designated for precise and damage-free voltage measurement and for diagnostics in the interior of highly integrated circuits has been developed. Its specifications meet the requirements necessary for testing present and future generations of integrated circuits with line patterns down to 0.5 μm. The electron optical column has been optimized for low-energy operation, providing an electron beam of 0.1 μm diameter with 2 nA current at 1 keV electron energy. The variable extraction voltage system incorporated in the tester not only enables accurate voltage measurements on unpassivated devices, but also offers the possibility of detailed failure analysis on passivated devices. On passivated devices, however, limitations may arise when the passivation layer thickness and the line separation distance reach the same order

Keywords

automatic test equipment; electron beam applications; failure analysis; fault location; integrated circuit testing; integrated memory circuits; large scale integration; voltage measurement; 0.5 micron; 1 keV; 2 nA; CAD; DRAM; IC testing; electron beam tester; failure analysis; integrated circuits; integrated memory circuits; line patterns; passivated devices; unpassivated devices; voltage measurement; Circuit testing; Control systems; Electron beams; Electron optics; Optical control; Optical design; Optical signal processing; Passivation; System testing; Voltage measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Test Conference, 1989. Proceedings. Meeting the Tests of Time., International

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/TEST.1989.82383

Filename

82383