This paper presents a large-volume workflow for fast failure analysis of microelectronic devices. The workflow incorporates a stand-alone ps-laser ablation tool and a FIB-SEM system. As implemented, the picosecond laser is used to quickly remove large volumes of bulk material while the Xe plasma FIB provides precise end-pointing to the feature of interest and fine surface polishing after laser ablation. The paper presents several application examples, including a full workflow to prepare artefact-free, delamination-free cross-sections in an AMOLED mobile display and the preparation of devices and packages (including flip chips) of varying size. It also covers related issues such as CAD navigation, data correlation, and the use of bitmap overlays for end-pointing.

As the semiconductor industry demands higher throughput for failure analysis, there is a constant need to rapidly speed up the sample preparation workflows. Here we present extended capabilities of the standard Xe plasma Focused Ion Beam failure analysis workflows by implementing a standalone laser ablation tool. Time-to-sample advantages of such workflow is shown on four distinct applications: cross-sectioning of a large solder ball, cross-sectioning of a deeply buried wire bond, cross-sectioning of the device layer of an OLED display, and removing the MEMS silicon cap to access underlying structures. In all of these workflows we have shown significant decrease in required process time while altogether avoiding the disadvantages of corresponding mechanical and chemical methods.

A protocol for obtaining an advanced TEM lamella geometry using FIB-SEM is presented. Lamella lift-out procedure might require multiple manipulation steps or even breaking the vacuum in order to reach inverted or plan-view lamella geometries. We have developed a setup which enables lamella transfer from a bulk sample onto a TEM grid within a single, very simple manipulation step, with no need to break the vacuum or unload the sample. Most importantly, this approach does not require any additional devices to be installed.

High speed FIB cross-sectioning of polyimide material was traditionally very difficult because of artifacts created by FIB on the cross section plane. Therefore we propose a simple method, which retains the high speed of the FIB process, but significantly improves the quality of the cross section plane. The method involves a hard mask positioned close to the intended place of the cross section using a precise manipulator. This then enables highly accurate and site-specific FIB cross-sectioning. Cross sections can be made very quickly and with the excellent quality in comparison to standard procedures based on gas-assisted deposition of a protection layer.

Reducing FIB induced damage on TEM samples is very important in order to preserve the sample structure, especially on modern semiconductor devices. We have compared the damage caused by Ga ion beam to our measurements of the damage caused by Xe ion beam and came to the conclusion that Xe ion beam induced damage is significantly lower at 30 keV beam energy. This has been proven by several independent analytical methods. Our results show that TEM sample preparation by Xe ion beam causes less amorphous damage and increase the quality of the lamella and in many cases it will allow to prepare the lamella by finishing it even at 30 keV, without the final cleaning step at the low beam energy. Final polishing step by Xe beam at beam energy 3 keV further reduces the amorphous layer, but the difference against Ga beam is not so significant like at 30 keV.