ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the mechanisms by which integrated circuits can fail in service and also considers how defects can be introduced during fabrication of the devices. It introduces a procedure by which faulty microelectronic components can be investigated to determine the cause of failure. The first stage of any failure analysis programme is the inspection of the component package under an optical microscope. The chapter focuses on the use of secondary electron imaging to examine the topography of circuits and devices. The sem has several major advantages over the optical microscope for the study of microelectronic devices and circuits: a high spatial resolution, a very large depth of field and the ability to obtain excellent topographic contrast. The chapter shows that there are other chemical analysis techniques which are better suited to the study of the distribution of light elements.
