Description:

Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (OBIRCH) scans the surface of an IC (front or back) with a laser beam during the IC functional testing. By scanning the internal connections of the IC with a laser beam in order to generate a temperature gradient, OBIRCH can thus detect variances in resistance, locate and identify the defects (hot spots) in the IC by matching those resistance variances.

OBIRCH is commonly used for resistance anomalies (high and low resistance) inside the chip and circuit leakage path analysis of a circuit. OBIRCH can quickly locate defects in the circuit, such as voids in metal wires, voids under vias, high resistance areas at the bottom of vias, and also effectively detect short circuits or current leakage.

Scope of Application:

Metal/Poly/Well short circuits (Metal short/Metal bridge);

Gate oxide pin hole;

Metal via hole/Contact resistance failed;

Any IC failure (Short/ bridge/ leakage/ high resistance associated with a differential material or its thickness).

Testing Images:

Scanning the front-side and back-side of IC through OBIRCH to find abnormal hot spots.

Testing Equipment:

Devices under test with unstable output current are not suitable for OBIRCH detection.