Broadband microwave-based metrology platform development: Demonstration of in-situ failure mode diagnostic capabilities for integrated circuit reliability analyses

In this paper, we discuss the use of broadband high frequency electromagnetic waves (RF) to non-destructively identify, classify and characterize performance-limiting defects in emerging nanoelectronic devices. As an illustration, the impact of thermal cycling on the RF signal characteristics (insertion loss (S₂₁) and return loss (S₁₁)) is used to infer thermo-mechanical stress-induced defects in metal interconnects. The inferred defects are supported with physical analytical data where possible.