A Case Study of Defects Due to Process-Design Interaction in Nano Scale Technology

The difficulties in identifying the precise defect location and real leakage path is increasing as the integrated circuit design and process have become more and more complicated in nano scale technology node. Most of the defects causing chip leakage are detectable with only one of the FA (Failure Analysis) tools such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Detection) or PEM (Photon Emission Microscope). However, due to marginality of process-design interaction some defects are often not detectable with only one FA tool [1][2]. This paper present an example of an abnormal power consumption process-design interaction related defect which could only be detected with more advanced FA tools.