IREM usage in the detection of highly resistive failures on 65nm products

Infra-red emission microscopy (IREM) has been widely used for physical isolation of several defect mechanisms where "abnormal" photon/thermal emissions are generated. Failures caused by metal shorts, contending nodes or electrical overstress are some of the issues that affect the normal operation of a circuit and result in intense emissions in the near infra-red (NIR) spectrum. IREM has proven successful in locating these faults and in this paper, we expand the usage of this tool by showing its effectiveness in the detection of failures caused by highly resistive nodes. We establish this idea with circuit simulation results and show real Si data that was seen on 65nm process technology products.