Nanoprobing is an advanced electrical characterization and fault-localization technique used in semiconductor failure analysis to directly investigate individual transistors, contacts, vias and interconnect structures inside an integrated circuit.
Instead of relying only on package-level electrical measurements, nanoprobing allows extremely small conductive structures on a deprocessed semiconductor die to be contacted using ...
The semiconductor industry went through several stages of evolution, beginning with the Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Field-Effect Transistor (FET) which was first proposed by Lilienfeld and Heil in the 1930s, moving on to bipolar in the 1950s and N-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) in 1970s, and ultimately becoming the standard in ...
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. ...
Overview of Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) Technology and Historical Development
Shockley's early transistor game most likely inspired the notion of fusing silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) to create an alloy for use in transistor engineering. However, this concept has just become a reality in the last 15 years due to the challenges associated ...
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 ...
Imagine a world where data moves at the speed of light—literally. Silicon photonics makes this possible, merging optics with the familiar silicon used in traditional electronics.
This advanced technology, originating from the 1980s, stands today as a pivotal innovation in microelectronics. It offers faster data transfer rates and lower power consumption ...
Kaiserslautern, Germany – May 21, 2025 – Creonic GmbH, a leading provider of ready-to-use IP cores for ASIC and FPGA applications, announces the release of its new oFEC (Open Forward Error Correction) codec IP core. The solution supports next-generation optical and high-speed communication systems and is now available in both ...
Many important semiconductor package defects are completely hidden from optical inspection. A solder ball can contain a void. A bond wire can be broken inside an encapsulated package. A die-attach layer may contain large areas of voiding. A package substrate can contain an open trace, and an advanced package may have ...
Integrated circuits can fail for many different reasons. Some failures originate inside the semiconductor die, while others result from packaging, manufacturing, assembly, electrical overstress or the environment in which the device operates. Common IC failure mechanisms include electrostatic discharge (ESD), electrical overstress (EOS), electromigration, dielectric breakdown, interconnect defects, corrosion, contamination, thermal ...
Introduction to Semiconductor
Semiconductors have a small energy gap between the conduction and valance bands, and their conductivity is between insulators and conductors. At absolute zero temperature, semiconductor materials are pure insulators and gradually increase with temperature. Temperature and doping are the two mechanisms to manage the conductivity of semiconductors. Doping ...
