Semiconductors
IB Labs’ technology tailors to ever shrinking device sizes in the semiconductor industry, in respect to metrology and failure analysis of devices. An innovator in the in-situ surface preparation for electrical and physical failure analysis, IB Labs’ offers advanced integrated ion-milling and imaging solutions.
Typical applications include front-side planar delayering, back-side thinning, ultra-shallow sputtering for elemental and molecular depth profiling and STEM metrology
Front-side planar polishing and delayering:
| Usage | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Metal-to-Metal delayering with real-time control and end-point detection over wide variable treatment areas from ~10µm to mm | ~10x faster than currently used manual polishing |
| Search for metal bridging | Planarity, depth control, automation superior to manual polisher or BIM |
| Sample preparation for probing at the metal or contact level | Surface roughness superior to FIB |
| 2D-to-3D reconstruction when combined with imaging | Multiple treatment sites within a die |
| Reverse engineering |
Back-side thinning:
| Usage | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Sample preparation for Photoemission (PEM) and Laser Voltage Microscopy (LVx) at the chip or board level | Minimal impact on a chip thermal and electrical integrity due to site-specific, non-contact milling |
| Variable size, single or multiple treatment areas within a chip |
Surface sputtering for depth profiling:
| Usage | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Ultra shallow depth profiling for SIMS, AES and XPS, Raman applications | Superior planarity and roughness of a sputter crater compared to state of the art depth-profiling instruments |
| Enables unique combination of high-resolution depth profiling and imaging |
STEM Metrology:
| Usage | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Unique site-specific STEM preparation at the wafer level | STEM sampling and analysis by using both front- and back-side thinning within a chip or wafer without lifting out a specimen |
| No limitations of lift-out sample size and observation area in a STEM mode as compared to other techniques | Enables CD-STEM wafer metrology and defect review |