Non-destructive Detecting Micro-Cracks and Crack Patterns in the Memory Device by using Memory Tester's Bitmapping Analysis

With the modern and advance IC packaging structures introduced to the market now-a-day, the limitation and complication of the signal interpretation of the other nondestructive techniques, such as the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) method, diminished the capability to identify any micro-crack on the die surface. In addition, the destructive analysis could also introduce the excess forces, which possibly induce the artifact micro-crack after the die is exposed by decapsulation or polishing techniques. Hence, the new non-destructive analysis technique for detecting micro-cracks and crack patterns in the IC memory devices has been proposed. This technique can easily detect the micro-cracks and crack patterns by utilizing the memory tester bitmap feature. The shorter analysis time and higher success rate can be achieved comparing to the other non-destructive techniques.