Non-destructive determination of functionality of an unknown semiconductor device

摘要

Processes and systems for use in reverse engineering integrated circuits determine functionality through analysis of junctions responding to external radiation. Semiconductor devices (100) include a number of p-n junctions grouped according to interconnected functional cells. A surface of the semiconductor device (100) is illuminated by radiation, e.g., by a laser or an electron beam (206), producing electron-hole pairs. Such pairs give rise to detectable currents that can be used to determine locations of irradiated junctions. By scanning a surface of the device (100) in such a manner, a layout of at least some of the junctions can be obtained. The layout can be used to identify functional cells according to a lookup process. By selectively providing input test vectors to the device (100) and repeating the scanning process, first level functional cells can be identified. A netlist of interconnected functional cells can thus be determined and expanded by repeating the process with different test vectors.