Infrared light emission from semiconductor devices

摘要

We present results using near-infrared (NIR) cameras to study emission of common defect classes for integrated circuits. The cameras are based on a liquid nitrogen cooled HgCdTe imaging array with high quantum efficiency and very low read noise. The array was developed for infrared astronomy and has high quantum efficiency in the wavelength range from 0.8 to 2.5 (mu)m. For comparison, the same set of samples used to characterize the performance of the NIR camera were studied using a non-intensified, liquid-nitrogen-cooled, slow scan CCD camera (with a spectral range 400-1100 nm). Results show that the NIR camera images all of the defect classes studied here with much shorter integration times than the cooled CCD, suggesting that photon emission beyond 1 (mu)m is significantly stronger than at shorter wavelengths.