Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology is one of the most versatile tools used in semiconductor failure analysis and microelectronics characterization. A FIB system directs a tightly focused beam of ions onto a sample. By controlling the beam current, energy, position and scanning pattern, engineers can remove material from extremely specific locations, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Acoustic Microscopy (SAM) is a non-destructive imaging technique widely used in semiconductor failure analysis to inspect structures and interfaces hidden inside IC packages. Unlike optical microscopy, which relies on visible light, or X-ray inspection, which relies primarily on differences in material density and X-ray absorption, SAM uses high-frequency acoustic waves. This ...
Kaiserslautern, Germany – July 31, 2025 – Creonic GmbH, the leading provider of cutting-edge communications IP cores, announces the release of Version 6.0 of its DVB-S2X Demodulator IP core. This major update introduces powerful enhancements that expand the configurability and technical performance of one of Creonic’s most mature and widely ...
One of the leading manufacturers of automatic test equipment, Advantest has proven to be one of the leading lights in the semiconductor industry. In addition, they manufacture measuring instruments that are used in the creation of electronic system. You can find Advantest products used in the creation of digital consumer ...
When an integrated circuit fails, identifying the damaged component is only part of the challenge. Engineers must determine where the failure occurred, what physical or electrical mechanism caused it, and ultimately why it happened. This requires a combination of specialized IC failure analysis techniques. Some techniques detect electrical abnormalities without physically altering ...
