Ultralow-noise PC-Based measurement system for the characterization of the metallizations of integrated circuits

The design, realization, and test of a multichannel ultralow-noise data acquisition system are described in this paper. The instrument, controlled by a personal computer (PC), has been specifically designed for performing low-frequency noise measurements on interconnect lines of an integrated circuits. A specifically designed ultralow-noise preamplifier has been realized and an optical link has been used for connecting the front-end of the instrument with the PC in order to minimize the effects of electromagnetic interferences. An overall background noise some orders of magnitude below that of preexisting instrumentation has been obtained. In particular, the power spectral density of the equivalent input voltage noise was 1.5, 3, 10 nV/(Hz)/sup 1/2/ at 1, 0.1, and 0.01 Hz, respectively.