Higher performance and lower power consumption have long been the basic requirements in the design of electronic devices. These properties have been achieved through miniaturization of device building blocks (transistors, memory cells, etc.), reduction of the signal path (advanced integration of multiple components in one package), and optimization of other components, including displays, RF, MEMS, or batteries.

Developing new technology products is very challenging. Fast failure analysis (FA) significantly helps in determining defect root-cause and providing feedback to maintain feasible time-to-market and device reliability. FA in packaging, advanced packaging, displays, RF, MEMS, and batteries usually involves searching for a defect buried a few hundred micrometers or even millimeters under the surface. Due to the sensitivity of the structures, site-specific analysis of the defect is usually done in cross section and large amounts of material must be sputtered to get to the region of interest. Industry-proven plasma FIB technology has served these purposes for nearly 10 years. Recently, however, significant increases to both the complexity of the devices and the depth of buried defects, together with pressure on time-to-result have challenged even plasma FIB capabilities. Adding the thousands-times faster laser ablation technique to the plasma FIB sample analysis workflow speeds the time to premium results while also opening new synergies among other instrumentation in the FA laboratory.

This webinar will introduce the TESCAN Large Volume Workflow. The flexibility of the workflow will be demonstrated using demanding samples of different sizes, including complex devices and non-conductive hard materials. We will show how to achieve fast, artifact-free sample preparation results that are compatible with UHR SEM imaging for revealing the finest details.