Use of a Nuclear Microprobe in Electronic Device Characterization

Microelectronics failure analysis is based on several approaches to study and understand the origin of failure. In addition to “classic” elemental methods (SIMS, ESCA, etc.), there are a number of less-common techniques that can be valuable but require significant equipment investment, specialized operators, and administrative infrastructure to make them available to analysts, if needed. Ion beam analysis methods (RBS, PIXE, NRA), found at the Bordeaux Nuclear Research Center (France), are examples of these specialized tool sets. The capabilities and improved sensitivities of this site for device examination are demonstrated by several examples.