Infrared Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (IROBIRCH) technology for IC failure localization and analysis

The Infrared Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (IROBIRCH) is a new technique in reliability testing and failure analysis. This paper describes the theory and application of the IROBIRCH system. One of applications we performed is how to isolate areas of high and low resistance at a capacitor array area on a CMOS10 chip. The results and root cause analysis are detailed step by step.