On-wafer picosecond e-beam testing applied to complex high-speed IC's

Abstract A newly developed picosecond electron-beam tester has now been utilized for noninvasive internal waveform and propagation-delay measurements of complex high-speed IC's. The high time resolution is achieved by stroboscopically chopping the electron beam. This method allows signal sampling with a 7ps pulse width, at the same time using the numerous measuring possibilities of conventional e-beam testing. The thorough analysis of a 1k GaAs-SRAM with a comparison of simulated waveforms and those measured at internal nodes is an example of the capabilities of the system.