Determination of Indenter Crack Probability on Multilayer Stacks using an Acoustic Emission Test Method

Engineers at Infineon Technologies have developed a way to detect probing-induced fracture in semiconductor wafers in real-time using acoustic emission sensing and burst-signal energy filtering techniques. In this article, they describe the measurement procedure and demonstrate its use on complex semiconductor pad stacks. They also present experimental results that shed new light on the relationship between probe tip contact force and crack probability in thin, brittle layers typical of BEOL layer stacks in CMOS ICs.