Category Archives: Failure Analysis

FIB Circuit Edit

What is a Circuit Edit?
 
A circuit edit is when you need to modify an existing ASIC or integrated circuit for whatever reason. This is usually done with the help of an ion beam that is focused onto the chip to modify it as per the request of the

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Best Practices: IC Troubleshooting & IC Failure Analysis

“Perception is reality,” we have heard this often. When an IC fails or the customer thinks that it failed, we must respond with an FA. Yet, to do that effectively, we must have accurate, pertinent information about the incident. That is the only way to avoid guesswork.
 
Let me

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Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

Integrated circuit (IC) designers are learning that a technique long used on older process nodes is providing even more valuable benefits as they develop devices to be manufactured at advanced technology nodes, including 28nm and beyond. During a period when it takes $10 million or more to bring a device

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Electrostatic Discharge vs Electromigration

ESD

This is a guest post by Naman Gupta, a Static Timing Analysis (STA) engineer at a leading semiconductor company in India.

Electrostatic Discharge and Electromigration might sound similar, but refer to two different physical phenomena. Let’s take them up one by one.
 
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is the large current flow between any

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Why Dr. Morris Chang is not My Hero. A tribute to Failure Analysis Engineers

Failure analysis

 
Dr. Morris Chang is not my hero. He might be the most important person in the semiconductor industry in our lifetime, but he is not my hero. I have nothing against him. I’ve never met him and probably will never will. Instead, I meet my heroes usually after tape-out,

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