Why Waste Time on Roadmaps When We Don't Have Cars?

Reliability and yield depend on timely accurate failure analysis (FA). While scaling and new materials continue to drive integrated circuit performance, key areas of analytical technology remain largely stagnant. FA roadmaps and whitepapers detail major challenges facing the industry, but research, development, and tool commercialization are languid. Unlike the mainstream activities of design, manufacturing, and test, FA suffers from a loss of focus, a lack of funding, and a small commercial market. After a review of major shortcomings in analytical capability, this paper will discuss barriers to analytical technology development and propose alternatives for providing a more fertile infrastructure for requisite research and development.