Developments in SPM technologies for semiconductor failure analysis

With the increase in circuitry complexity and shrinkage in device dimensions, failure analysis (FA) plays a more important role in identifying root cause and thus in yield enhancement. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has been extensively used in semiconductor FA labs. With the shrinkage in device dimensions, higher challenges are casted on AFM technology. In this article, we will discuss the challenges and report our recent progress in tackling them, including improving spatial resolution and detection sensitivity.