Embedded photon emission calibration (epec)

A system for performing physical failure analysis techniques for analyzing semi-conductor devices using photon emission microscopy, said system comprising:

• a semiconductor chip comprising:
• at least one photon emission calibration device;
• and
• at least one functional device;
• and
• test equipment that applies a plurality of control currents to said at least one photon emission calibration device,
• said test equipment capturing a plurality of photon emission intensities produced by said at least one photon emission calibration device when said control currents are applied;
• said test equipment calculating a plurality of calibration current densities of said at least one photon emission calibration device based on said photon emission intensity produced by said at least one photon emission calibration device to establish a device specific calibration relationship between photon emission intensity and current density, and
• said test equipment comparing light emission data from said at least one photon emission calibration device with light emission data from said at least one functional device to estimate a functional device current density of said at least one functional device based on said device specific calibration relationship.

An integrated circuit comprising:

• a control input operatively connected to at least one photon emission calibration device;
• a measure input operatively connected to said at least one photon emission calibration device;
• and
• at least one functional device;
• said at least one photon emission calibration device and said at least one functional device being embedded in a semiconductor chip,
• said at least one photon emission calibration device producing a plurality of photon emission intensities when control currents are applied,
• said photon emission intensity produced by said at least one photon emission calibration device providing a plurality of calibration current densities of said at least one photon emission calibration device to establish a device specific calibration relationship between photon emission intensity and current density, and
• light emission data from said at least one photon emission calibration device being comparable with light emission data from said at least one functional device to estimate a functional device current density of said at least one functional device based on said device specific calibration relationship.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a computerized device, said non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by said computerized device to perform a method to determine current density in a functional device in an integrated circuit including at least one photon emission device, said method comprising:

• applying a plurality of control currents to said at least one photon emission device;
• capturing a plurality of photon emission intensities produced by said at least one photon emission device when said control currents are applied;
• calculating a plurality of calibration current densities of said at least one photon emission device based on said photon emission intensity produced by said at least one photon emission device to establish a device specific calibration relationship between photon emission intensity and current density;
• applying a test current to said functional device;
• capturing photon emission intensity produced by said functional device;
• and
• estimating a functional device current density of said functional device based on said device specific calibration relationship.