Electron-beam fuse programming for redundancy technology

Electron beam fuse programming, i.e. blowing or heating fusible links by e-beam to activate redundancy circuits, is proposed. In order to verify its potential usefulness, an electron-beam fuse programming system has been designed and evaluated. Both fuse blowing and welding were successfully carried out by choosing appropriate irradiation conditions. It was also, found that damage due to electron-beam irradiation can be avoided if e-beam conditions are optimized and a proper an-. nealing step after irradiation is carried out. Consequently, it is concluded that the electron beam fuse programming technique can be used for redundancy circuit programming.