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Fault Isolation

Today, engineers are required to locate defects on complex integrated circuits. In many ways, this is akin to locating a needle in a haystack, where the needles get smaller and the haystack gets bigger every year. Engineers are required to understand a variety of disciplines in order to effectively perform fault isolation. This requires knowledge of subjects like: design, testing, technology, processing, materials science, and even optics. Failed devices and low yields can lead to customer returns and idle manufacturing lines that can cost a company millions of dollars a day. The industry needs competent analysts to help solve these problems. Fault Isolation is a 2-day course that offers detailed instruction on a variety of effective tools, as well as the overall process flow for locating and characterizing the defect responsible for the failure. This course is designed for every manager, engineer, and technician working in the semiconductor field, using semiconductor components or supplying tools to the industry.

By focusing on a Do It Right the First Time approach to the analysis, participants will learn the appropriate methodology to successfully locate defects, characterize them, and determine the root cause of failure.

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Cost

$1,695

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Please note: If you or your company plan to pay by wire transfer, you will be charged a wire transfer fee of USD 45.00.

Please email the printable registration form for public courses to us at the email address on the form to complete your order.

Additional Information

If you have any questions concerning this course, please contact us at info@semitracks.com.

Refund Policy

If a course is canceled, refunds are limited to course registration fees. Registration within 21 days of the course is subject to $100 surcharge.

What Will I Learn By Taking This Class?

Participants will learn to develop the skills to determine what tools and techniques should be applied, and when they should be applied. This skill-building series is divided into three segments:

  1. The Process of Fault Isolation. Participants will learn to recognize correct philosophical principles that lead to a successful analysis. This includes concepts like destructive vs. non-destructive techniques, fast techniques vs. brute force techniques, and correct verification.
  2. The Tools and Techniques. Participants will learn the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of tools used for analysis, including electrical testing techniques, package analysis tools, light emission, electron beam tools, optical beam tools, decapping and sample preparation.
  3. Case Histories. Participants will identify how to use their knowledge through the case histories. They will learn to identify key pieces of information that allow them to determine the possible cause of failure and how to proceed.

Course Objectives

  1. This course will provide participants with an in-depth understanding of the tools, techniques and processes used in fault isolation.
  2. Participants will be able to determine how to proceed with a submitted request for analysis, ensuring that the analysis is done with the greatest probability of success.
  3. This course will identify the advantages and disadvantages of a wide variety of tools and techniques that are used for fault isolation.
  4. This course will offer a wide variety of video demonstrations of analysis techniques, so the analyst can get an understanding of the types of results they might expect to see with their equipment.
  5. Participants will be able to identify appropriate tools to purchase when starting or expanding a laboratory.

Course Outline

DAY 1

  1. Introduction
  2. Fault Isolation Principles/Procedures
    • Philosophy of Fault Isolation
    • Flowcharts
  3. Electrical Testing
    • Electrical Behavior of Defects
    • Quiescent Power Supply Current
    • Parametric Tests (Input Leakage, Output Voltage Levels, Output Current Levels, etc.)
    • Timing Tests (Propagation Delay, Rise/Fall Times, etc.)
    • Automatic Test Equipment
    • Digital Circuit Troubleshooting
    • Analog Circuit Troubleshooting
  4. Advanced Decap and Sample Preparation Techniques
  5. Photon Emission Microscopy
    • Mechanisms for Photon Emission
    • Instrumentation
      • Frontside
      • Backside
    • Interpretation
    • Time-Resolved Light Emission
  6. Electron Beam Tools
    • Voltage Contrast
      • Passive Voltage Contrast
      • Static Voltage Contrast
      • Capacitive Coupled Voltage Contrast
      • Introduction to Electron Beam Probing
    • Electron Beam Induced Current
    • Resistive Contrast Imaging/EBAC
    • Charge-Induced Voltage Alteration (CIVA)
    • Electron Beam Induced Resistance Change (EBIRCH)

Day 2

  1. Optical Beam Tools
    • Optical Beam Induced Current
    • Light-Induced Voltage Alteration
    • Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (OBIRCH)
    • Seebeck Effect Imaging
    • Electro-Optical Probing
    • Laser Voltage Probe (IDS-2K)
  2. Soft Defect Localization Techniques
    • Resistive Interconnect Localization
    • Light Assisted Device Alteration
    • Critical Timing Path Analysis
  3. Thermal Detection Techniques
    • Infrared Thermal Imaging
    • Liquid Crystal Hot Spot Detection
    • Fluorescent Microthermal Imaging
  4. Scanned Probe Techniques
    • SQUID Microscopy
    • AFM Nanoprobing
    • SEM Nanoprobing
  5. Focused Ion Beam Technology
    • Physics of Operation
    • Instrumentation
    • Examples
    • Gas-Assisted Etching
    • Insulator Deposition
    • Electrical Circuit Effects
  6. Case Histories

Instructional Strategy

Our courses are dynamic. We use a combination of instruction by lecture, problem solving, and question/answer sessions to give you the tools you need to excel in the failure analysis process. From the very first moments of the seminar until the last sentence of the training, the driving instructional factor is application. The course notes offer hundreds of pages of reference material that the participants can apply during their daily activities.

Our instructors are internationally recognized experts. Our instructors have years of current and relevant experience in their fields. They're focused on answering your questions and teaching you what you need to know.

Instructor Profile

Christopher Henderson, President of Semitracks

Christopher Henderson

Christopher Henderson received his B.S. in Physics from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and his M.S.E.E. from the University of New Mexico. Chris is the President and one of the founders of Semitracks Inc., a United States-based company that provides education and semiconductor training to the electronics industry.

From 1988 to 2004, Chris worked at Sandia National Laboratories, where he was a Principal Member of Technical Staff in the Failure Analysis Department and Microsystems Partnerships Department. His job responsibilities have included failure and yield analysis of components fabricated at Sandia's Microelectronics Development Laboratory, research into the electrical behavior of defects, and consulting on microelectronics issues for the DoD. He has published over 20 papers at various conferences in semiconductor processing, reliability, failure analysis, and test. He has received two R&D 100 awards and two best paper awards. Prior to working at Sandia, Chris worked for Honeywell, BF Goodrich Aerospace, and Intel. Chris is a member of IEEE and EDFAS (the Electron Device Failure Analysis Society).

At Semitracks, Chris teaches courses on failure and yield analysis, semiconductor reliability, and other aspects of semiconductor technology.