Laser-based sample preparation for electronic package failure analysis

Failure analysis has come to play a key role in ensuring quality and reliability in semiconductor devices, associated packaging and printed wiring boards. Tools are increasingly available to those investigating high-density integrated circuits at the die level, particularly for edit and repair operations. Until recently however, this capability has been limited by the inherent low-resolution mechanical/manual processes used for destructive analysis on electronics packaging. A laser-based tool has been developed to selectively and locally enable access to traces and layers within packages and provide a way to perform edits to an area of interest.