Fast and Accurate Fault Localization Through Effective Use of Design Schematics

In modern-day semiconductor failure analysis (FA), the need for computer-aided design (CAD) has extended beyond the sole physical layout to a much larger scope of integrated circuit (IC) design data, such as the source schematic and netlist. Due to the improved accuracy of predicted failures reported by test and diagnosis tools, it has become virtually mandatory to correlate the potential failing schematic features (e.g., nets and instances) to their corresponding location on the physical-CAD layout and actual device under test (DUT). This paper covers the latest advancements of utilizing IC design schematics for fast and accurate fault localization; along with some of the most-effective methodologies for efficient root-cause analysis.