Two-photon laser-assisted device alteration in silicon integrated-circuits

Optoelectronic imaging of integrated-circuits has revolutionized device design debug, failure analysis and electrical fault isolation; however modern probing techniques like laser-assisted device alteration (LADA) have failed to keep pace with the semiconductor industry’s aggressive device scaling, meaning that previously satisfactory techniques no longer exhibit a sufficient ability to localize electrical faults, instead casting suspicion upon dozens of potential root-cause transistors. Here, we introduce a new high-resolution probing technique, two-photon laser-assisted device alteration (2pLADA), which exploits two-photon absorption (TPA) to provide precise three-dimensional localization of the photo-carriers injected by the TPA process, enabling us to implicate individual transistors separated by 100 nm. Furthermore, we illustrate the technique's capability to reveal speed-limiting transistor switching evolution with an unprecedented timing resolution approaching <10 ps. Together, the exceptional spatial and temporal resolutions demonstrated here now make it possible to extend optical fault localization to sub-14 nm technology nodes.