Modelling and Designing Aplanatic Solid Immersion Lens Microscope for Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits

Abstract

The advancement of integrated circuits (ICs) stimulates the development of failure analysis (FA) techniques. As a non-destructive technique, optical microscopy using aplanatic solid immersion lens (ASIL) provides higher spatial resolution, improved light collection efficiency and the capability of subsurface imaging. Although this technique has been experimentally employed to image ICs, the resolution cannot satisfy the increasing requirements of FA.

In this study, a complete and computationally efficient model of ASIL microscope for the first time was presented, which considers all of the components that influence resolution and therefore provides the opportunity to precisely vary individual parameters and then to explicitly evaluate the performance of a microscope. Base on the theoretical model, different polarizations were used to image object structure in the ASIL scanning microscopy. The better resolution was achieved theoretically and experimentally, which is beneficial to maintain the quality and reliability of ICs in FA.