Emission Microscopy (EMMI) is an optical fault-localization technique used in semiconductor failure analysis to identify electrically active defects inside integrated circuits. Instead of physically opening individual circuit structures and searching for damage, emission microscopy detects extremely weak light generated while a semiconductor device is electrically operating or biased.
Abnormal photon emission ...
Getting funding for a semiconductor startup is not getting easier. According to CBIngishts, there have been fewer than 20 Angel/Seed and Series A deals in the USA in each year since 2009.
So where is all the funding channeled to? In 2013, close to a quarter of all VC funding was ...
When an integrated circuit fails, one of the first questions is: How is the device failing electrically?
A chip may exhibit excessive leakage current, a short circuit, an open connection, abnormal supply current, a parametric shift or a complete functional failure. Before engineers physically cut into the device, they usually want to ...
With the creeping rise in the price of gold, many microelectronics manufacturing companies have been looking for alternatives to reduce the cost of ball bonding. Recently, the trend has been to look into the use copper wire. However, there are many drawbacks to using copper wire, including the short shelf ...
Once an electrical failure has been localized inside an integrated circuit, the next challenge is determining what physically went wrong. Was a metal interconnect broken? Did a via fail? Is there contamination between two structures? Has a dielectric layer broken down? Is a transistor structure abnormal? Or did the failure originate in the ...
Hsinchu, Taiwan -- June 24, 2025 -- Faraday Technology Corporation (TWSE: 3035), a leading ASIC design service and IP provider, today announced the availability of its 10G SerDes IP on UMC’s 22nm process technology. Designed to meet the increasing demands of high-speed data transmission, the new SerDes IP supports a broad ...
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, when ...
Package failure analysis is the systematic investigation of defects and failures originating within semiconductor packaging, interconnects, solder connections, die attach, bond wires, redistribution layers and other structures that connect the semiconductor die to the outside system.
A semiconductor device may fail electrical testing even though the silicon itself is functioning correctly. ...
When a semiconductor device fails, the visible damage is not necessarily the root cause. A damaged metal line, cracked package, leaking transistor or burned bond wire may be the final result of a sequence of events rather than the original problem. The purpose of the semiconductor failure analysis process is therefore to ...
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is one of the most important imaging techniques used in semiconductor failure analysis. While optical microscopes remain extremely useful for initial inspection, many semiconductor defects are simply too small to characterize adequately with visible-light microscopy. SEM uses a focused beam of electrons rather than light, allowing engineers ...
