Method and system for testing an integrated circuit
AssigneeCarl Zeiss SMT GmbH
InventorsTheodore Lundquist, Baohua Niu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for analyzing an integrated circuit includes: applying an electric test pattern to the IC; delivering a stream of primary electrons to a back side of the IC on an active region to a transistor of interest, the active region including active structures such as transistors of the IC; detecting light resulting from cathodoluminescence initiated by secondary electrons in the IC; and analyzing the detected light regarding a correlation with the electric test pattern applied to the IC. A system for analyzing an IC is provided.
Claims28
A method, comprising:
- a) applying an electric test pattern to an integrated circuit (IC);
- b) delivering a beam primary electrons to a side of the IC on an active region comprising active structures of the IC;
- c) detecting light resulting from cathodoluminescence initiated by secondary electrons in the IC;
- and
- d) analyzing the detected light to correlate the detected light with the electric test pattern applied to the IC,
- wherein the electron beam has a resolution, the resolution is about a size of the active structure, and the resolution is less than a spacing between active structures of the IC.
A method, comprising:
- analyzing cathodoluminescence light emitted from integrated circuit (IC) due to the delivery of a beam of primary electrons to a side of the IC on an active region comprising active structures of the IC while applying an electric test pattern to the IC, thereby correlating the cathodoluminescence light with the electric test pattern applied to the IC,
- wherein the electron beam has a resolution, the resolution is about a size of the active structure, and the resolution is less than a spacing between active structures of the IC.
A method, comprising:
- analyzing cathodoluminescence light emitted from integrated circuit (IC) due to the delivery of a beam of primary electrons to a side of the IC on an active region comprising active structures of the IC while applying an electric test pattern to the IC, thereby correlating the cathodoluminescence light with the electric test pattern applied to the IC,
- wherein analyzing the cathodoluminescence light comprises analyzing a timely variation of photons.
A method, comprising:
- a) applying an electric test pattern to an integrated circuit (IC);
- b) delivering a beam primary electrons to a side of the IC on an active region comprising active structures of the IC;
- c) detecting light resulting from cathodoluminescence initiated by secondary electrons in the IC;
- and
- d) analyzing the detected light to correlate the detected light with the electric test pattern applied to the IC,
- wherein analyzing comprises analyzing a timely variation of photons.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.