Diagnostics of packaged ICs By infrared thermography

Potential applications of different thermography techniques for the fault diagnostic in packaged integrated circuits (ICs) in order to detect, evaluate, and localize latent and hidden defects are discussed. We present the four basic thermography techniques for qualitative and quantitative non-destructive diagnostic of sub-surface defects - passive, pulsed, step-heating, and lock-in. The results and analyses of different diagnostics of packaged ICs are shown. The option to show temperature distribution of the packed ICs in real time enables easy localization of overheating prone areas.