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 ...
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 ...
Semiconductor devices can fail for many reasons: manufacturing defects, electrical overstress, electrostatic discharge, contamination, packaging problems, excessive temperature, mechanical stress, aging or defects introduced during assembly.
Finding the actual cause of an IC failure, however, is rarely as simple as looking at the damaged device.
Semiconductor failure analysis (FA) is the systematic ...
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 ...
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce today announced immediate export restrictions on gallium, germanium, antimony, and super-hard materials to the United States. This action cites national security concerns and represents a significant escalation of trade tensions between the two countries. The restrictions follow recent U.S. actions to curb exports of semiconductor-related ...
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 ...
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 ...
With a rapid progression in the applications involving artificial intelligence, data generation has been increased exponentially in last few years. It has been estimated that in 2018, 2,5 quintillion bytes of data is generated every day [1]. This huge data generation puts enormous computational requirements on telecom platforms and data ...
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 ...
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 ...
