Automation of Thin Film Flaw Detection Processes as a Stage in the Development of Laser Resistor Trimming Technology in Microelectronics

The paper is dedicated to the description of the authors' proposed approach to automating defect inspection of thin films based on machine vision and measurements of electrical parameters, and combining this functionality with laser trimming equipment. The prerequisites for creating such systems are considered, as well as the advantages of this approach over the currently used methods for detecting topological and electrophysical deviations of thin-film microelectronic boards from the requirements of design documentation. A separate detailed description is given of the area of tasks that are solved, such as detecting the mismatch of the sizes of topological elements to design standards, detecting and recognizing such arbitrary defects as pores, etchings, structure removals, scratches, and similar changes in the thin film, controlling the resistance values of thin-film resistive elements, removing removable topological defects using the laser retouching method, and electrophysical defects using pulse lowering or laser trimming. Examples of possible defects in the images of real thin-film microelectronic objects are provided.