There are several methods commonly used to locate the area of interest (AOI), such as using layout landmarks, applying laser marks, focus ion beam marks, etc. This paper discusses another method which can improve the job efficiency and cost-effectiveness by introducing the combination of laser marking and laser deprocessing technique (LDT) as a quick way to deprocess the AOI. It further explores LDT to improve the job efficiency and throughput in logic devices to achieve cost-saving targets. An experiment was performed on a 14nm technology node prototype chip that integrated logic and SRAM. The proposed LDT has demonstrated itself to be a useful method to increase the job efficiency by performing in batch and easy to locate the AOI upon loading the sample for SEM inspection. It is also a simple and cost-effective way to delayer comparing to other methodologies.

Conductive thin film residues often referred to as puddles could be challenging fails to detect. A large extant film with no distinct boundaries would make the task more challenging for a comparison between good and bad region. Advanced node 20nm and 14nm technologies mandate use of several conductive thin films in the front end of line processes, and hence a potential for high defects during initial product development stage. Use of other electrical characterization techniques in combination with scanning electron microscopy inspection will be a very powerful tool to detect the root cause affirmatively. Cross-sectional images are necessary to understand the root cause of the fails for corrective actions. This work uses three cases of power supply shorts as a platform to demonstrate the idea, demonstrating a few situations where traditional techniques might reach its limits while the authors depend on additional characterization tools to confidently detect and confirm fails.

This study assesses the effect of acid corrosion on the luminescence of YAG:Ce coatings. The feedstock powder is prepared by high-temperature solid phase synthesis and the coatings are deposited by air plasma spraying. Microstructure and phase composition are characterized and the effect of acid immersion duration on luminescent intensity is measured. It is found that the luminescent properties of YAG:Ce 3+ coatings have a tendency to fluctuate with immersion time, which appears to be related to phase composition.

This work investigates the effects of sulfidation on plasma-sprayed Al-Mo and Mo coatings. Pure Mo powder and Al-Mo powder mixtures were sprayed on Inconel substrates with either a NiCrAlY or Mo bond coat. Oxidation and sulfidation tests were carried out in air and Ar-S 2 atmospheres, respectively, at temperatures of 973, 1073, and 1173 K. Coating samples were evaluated before and after testing via SEM and XRD analysis and weight measurements. The results show that Al-Mo coatings with a Mo bond layer provided the best protection against high-temperature oxidation and sulfidation corrosion.

Rare-earth zirconates with a pyrochlore structure have attracted great attention for potential application in thermal barrier coatings to further improve the performance and durability of gas turbines. In present work, the Sm 2 Zr 2 O 7 coating was deposited by air plasma spraying technology, and its microstructure and phase composition were examined. The as-sprayed Sm 2 Zr 2 O 7 coating exhibited anion-disordered while cation-ordered fluorite-type structure. Degree of ordering was considerable enhanced after high temperature aging, and transformed to ordered pyrochlore-type structure after thermal aging at temperatures above 1200 ºC. The typical lamellar structure for the as-sprayed Sm 2 Zr 2 O 7 coating gradually decreased with increasing thermal aging temperature, which was caused by microcrack healing at high temperatures.

Although the overall spatial resolution of backscattered electron (BSE) imaging suffers in comparison to secondary electron (SE) imaging, its superior sensitivity to atomic number (Z) contrast and ability to image through overlying insulation levels can provide a complementary approach for imaging subtle buried defects. BSE enables the localization and imaging of embedded defects through overlying insulator levels without the risk of compromising them with reactive ion etch (RIE) or plasma etch exposure or by anisotropic wet chemical delayering process steps. Once the embedded defect is localized with BSE in situ, subsequent imaging by cross sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (XTEM) combined with elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX) or electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELs) can be performed without the risk of introducing artifacts. In this work, BSE imaging was successfully employed to image embedded subtle defects in 32nm node technologies through overlying insulator films not possible with conventional SE imaging techniques.

With the scaling down of semiconductor devices to nanometer range, physical failure analysis (PFA) has become more challenging. In this paper, a different method of performing PFA to identify a physical vertical short of intermetal layer in nanoscale devices is discussed. The proposed chemical etch and backside chemical etch PFA techniques have the advantages of sample preparation evenness and efficiency compared to conventional PFA. This technique also offers a better understanding of the failure mechanism and is easier to execute in identifying the vertical short issue.

This study examines the influence of carbon and austenite stabilizing elements (Ni, Mn, Co, Cu) on Laves phase precipitation, Fe 2 W formation, and creep rupture strength (CRS) in 9-12% Cr steels at 600-700°C. Nickel and manganese had minimal impact on Laves phase and coarse carbide formation up to 1% content. While cobalt increased Laves phase fraction at 650°C, it did not improve long-term CRS and even caused a rapid decrease in short-term CRS. Copper, on the other hand, promoted the precipitation of fine Cu-rich particles that acted as nucleation sites for Laves phase and M 23 C 6 carbide. This resulted in a different needle-like Laves phase morphology compared to the globular type observed in nickel and cobalt alloys, leading to improved CRS in the copper alloy. Increasing carbon content from 0.1% to 0.2% effectively suppressed Laves phase formation, as confirmed by Thermo-Calc calculations. Notably, for cobalt alloys with higher tungsten content, higher carbon content (0.09% to 0.19%) improved CRS at 650°C, whereas the opposite effect was observed in nickel and nickel-manganese alloys. Copper alloys maintained improving CRS trends even with increased carbon, leading to the overall best CRS performance among the tested alloys with 0.2% carbon.