A Comparative Study of Electron and Ion Beam Induced Charge Imaging Techniques in CMOS Failure Analysis

The Ion Beam Induced Charge (IBIC) imaging technique is compared with the conventional Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) imaging. The IBIC images were found to be strongly dependent on the ion beam energy and ion beam induced degradation. EBIC images are influenced by overlying metal layers while in the case of IBIC, the choice of ion type and energy determine whether the overlying metal layers influence the IBIC image or not. Ion beam induced degradation, an undesirable feature, was found to be improving images in certain cases.