Failure Analysis of Engineering Materials
This text introduces the important aspects associated with the failure analysis of engineering components, and provides a treatment of both macroscopic and microscopic observations of fracture surfaces.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Failure Analysis of Engineering Materials
6.4: Tools and Techniques for Electronic Failure Analysis
6.4 Tools and Techniques for Electronic Failure Analysis
The tools and techniques described in Chap. 1 are used extensively in the failure analyses of electronic systems and components. However, the unique characteristics of these systems (e.g., fine size, complex architecture, electrical phenomena) require additional methods for failure analysis. Some of these are described in detail in this section.
6.4.1 Techniques used in electronic failure analysis
These may be classified as follows:
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Photography and optical microscopy
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X-ray/radiographic component inspection
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Infrared thermography
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Acoustic microimaging
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Metallography
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Chemical characterization
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Electronic and electrical characterization
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Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDXA), and wavelength-dispersive spectrometry (WDS)
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Miscellaneous techniques
Since the size range of most electronic components and the materials in them (layers) are generally very fine (and progressively getting smaller), microscopic techniques are necessary to image them. Many of these techniques are covered in detail in Chap. 1. Table 6.11 and Fig. 6.44 compare features, resolution, and depth of penetration of various microscopic techniques including some techniques that are unique in their application to electronic FA.
Figure 6.44: A schematic comparison of some of the various microscopies available to the failure analyst. ( From Richards and Footner. [3])
| Technique | Lateral resolution, ?m | Restriction on sample size | Specimen preparation | Destructive/ nondestructive | Depth of focus, ?m | Sub-surface info. | Real-time imaging | Cost factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OM (good) | 0.5 | X | None | ND | 0.01 | X | 36,656 | |
| SEM-SE | 0.005 | X | None | ND | 10.0 | X | 50 300 | |
| SEM-VC |
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