3D integration takes more and more importance in the microelectronics industry. This paper focuses on two types or objects, which are copper pillars (25 micrometer of diameter) and hybrid bonding samples. It aims at a statistical morphology observation of hybrid bonding structures, which underwent an electromigration test at 350 deg C and 20 mA. The goal of the study is two-fold. It is both to limit the overall time needed to perform a whole process flow, from sample preparation to reconstructed volume, and to limit the time of human intervention. To achieve this goal, three strategies are presented: improving the sample preparation scheme, reducing the number of projections with iterative algorithms and the Structural SIMilarity function, and automating the post-processing. The post-processing of the data is fully automated and directly renders the reconstructed volume. The high signal to noise ratio allows for further segmentation and analysis.

To get both the resolution and the field of view needed, 3Di devices are characterized in this paper using phase-contrast X-ray tomography performed in a synchrotron source. The paper shows how the synchrotron-based tomography can be routinely used as a tool for failure analysis, and how some strategies can be applied to make those analyses more time-efficient and automatic without any loss of resolution. It presents and assesses the possibilities offered by a synchrotron radiation facility such as European Synchrotron Radiation Facility for the field of failure analysis in microelectronics. The paper illustrates those possibilities through two main examples, based on two different types of connection of bottom and top tiers in 3D integration, either thermocompression with copper pillars or hybrid bonding using copper pads. Several strategies have been successfully tested for the data acquisition to be faster and to limit the needed human intervention as much as possible.

Prior to x-ray tomography, cylindrically-shaped samples are obtained using an innovative milling strategy on a Plasma-FIB. The method presented consists of tuning the ion dose as a function of pixel coordinates along with optimization of the scan geometries, drastically reducing the preparation time and significantly improving the overall workflow efficiency.