FBGA 28nm Scan Chain Failure Analysis

Ongoing miniaturization in process node technology used in fabricating integrated circuits (ICs) has enhanced chip performance but at the same time this has induced subtle defects. As a result, Failure Analysis (FA) has become increasingly important for root cause analysis to enable wafer fab process improvement. This paper presents a novel FA approach on real case Scan Chain functional failure induced in fabrication process by incorporating Focused Ion Beam (FIB) circuit edit, Infrared Emission Microscopy (IREM), extensive layout study, Nanoprobing, Electron Beam Absorbed Current (EBAC), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) for defect localization.