Failure Analysis on Integrated Power Devices

Integrated power devices (IPD, IC+MOSFETs) have gained popularity for their excellent power management performance and compact size. During the development, it was soon found that exposing the multi-die device for debug could be challenging. In the article, we will show how the traditional decapsulation method fails to expose the device properly for follow up analysis. We will then present a new technique using laser ablation + chemical/plasma etch that proves to work for IPD products. We will then present a complete FA example combining this decapsulation technique and many other advanced FA techniques to solve an elusive failure during the development phase of an IPD product.