Effectiveness of High Bias Voltage IREM on Elevated VminFailure: Case Study

摘要

Infra-Red Emission Microscopy (IREM) is a widely used technique for CMOS silicon Fault Isolation (FI) [1] [2]. Poor Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) at low voltage is a key limitation for this technology to be widely used for FI on marginal failures or also known as $mathrm{V}_{min}$ (minimum operating voltage) limiting failures [3]. Given that, Laser Assisted Device Alteration (LADA) is widely used for $mathrm{V}_{min}$ failures. However, it's accuracy in identifying the defect location is always questionable as LADA uses the tester to determine the pass/fail criteria [4]. This paper presents two case studies demonstrating how IREM can be used for FI of elevated $mathrm{V}_{min}$ failures by not restricting the analysis to the failing voltage region.