Identification of process/design issues during 0.18 µm technology qualification for space application

Optical techniques (light emission and laser stimulation techniques) are routinely used to evaluate defects on specific component for space applications. Just one anomaly on one component could have catastrophic consequences on satellites. We must analyse any kind of fault of the device whatever the origin of thus fault is. It can be design, design-process, process or end user related... At the early stage of an analysis, choosing the right technique is an increasingly complex task. In some cases, one technique may bring value but not the others. Using a 180nm test structure device, we will present results showing the complementarity of Emission Microscopy (EMMI), Time-Resolved Emission (TRE) and Dynamic Laser Stimulation (DLS) in order to help debug engineers to choose the right approach. This complementarity gives us ability to strengthen hypothesises before any kind of physical analysis.