Integrated circuit (IC) designers are learning that a technique long used on older process nodes is providing even more valuable benefits as they develop devices to be manufactured at advanced technology nodes including 28nm and beyond. During a period when it takes $10 million or more to bring a device to market, focused ion beam (FIB) circuit edit has become strategically important tool for reducing costs, optimizing performance and functionality, mitigating risk, and speeding time to market for complex device designs.
It is widely understood that IC designers will encounter many new problems at advanced process nodes that would be difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate based on previous design work. EDA tool providers are already addressing the difficulty of advanced node design with advice around design flow and other ways to handle numerous technical challenges. In addition to applying these new design flow modifications, developers can also apply FIB circuit editing to the process of debugging and validating fixes or exploring design optimization changes, before committing to the high cost or lengthy timetables of a full mask spin.
TACKLING CHALLENGES AT ADVANCED PROCESS NODES
Design success barriers are magnified at advanced process nodes, where mask costs are high and it is much more difficult to find and fix bugs. It is widely understood that designers will encounter many new problems at advanced process nodes that would be difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate based on previous design work. The feature sizes of chips manufactured at 20nm process nodes are 10 times smaller than the wavelength of the laser light typically used in lithography. Pre-silicon testing is growing extremely tedious, simulation times are growing excessive, and many designs simply cannot be 100 percent verified. Simulation models may be imperfect for extremely complex designs, and packaging can cause stresses to sensitive devices.
Challenges in this environment range from multiple patterning and layout dependent effects (LDE) to the use of local interconnect layers. Design and integration complexity rises to a new level with each new technology node. Server signals and power electro-migration also create challenges. Decreasing metal pitch leads to coupling effects and signal integrity issues. Increasing wire and via resistance requires more advanced and variable wire sizing and tapering techniques. Additionally, extraction, timing, signal integrity analysis, and modeling pose a multitude of variation issues that designers must solve before they can achieve accuracy without compromising performance. Lithography limitations at 20nm often require a great deal of fixing to achieve signoff. Finally, designers face numerous chip and IP integration challenges, packaging issues, and additional complexity as these issues interact.
Similar challenges face designers of power control ICs and devices that combine control with power FET functionality. In these design environments, FIB circuit edit techniques similarly provide benefits at advanced process nodes, and will be increasingly important as many power devices move to silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and other wide bandgap materials.
Many EDA tool providers are already addressing these issues with advice around design flow and other ways to handle numerous technical challenges. This isn’t sufficient, however. In addition to applying new design flow modifications, developers can also apply FIB circuit editing with their early prototypes during de-bug. The same techniques can also be used to explore design optimization opportunities, by quickly and inexpensively implementing and creating physical prototypes that can be tested and validated before committing to the high cost or lengthy timetables of a full mask spin. FIB-edited device prototypes can be used to guide one-time modifications to masks, eliminating the need for a trial-and-error approach with successive versions of masks.
OVERVIEW OF FIB CIRCUIT EDIT CAPABILITIES
FIB systems have a number of uses in the semiconductor industry, microelectromechanical system fabrication, and biological studies. A primary use of FIB systems in the semiconductor industry is for circuit edit, allowing designers to cut traces or add metal connections within a chip (see Fig. 1). FIB edits can be performed quickly and easily, at a small fraction of the $5 million to $10 million in costs that are typical for a new lot of wafers in a fab. Using today’s state-of-the-art equipment, it is possible to edit circuits fabricated with 28 nm and smaller technology nodes that feature multiple-layer metal stacks and occupy flip chip and other advanced chip scale form factors.
Figure 1 Multiple connections and cuts are shown for front-side FIB circuit edit.
FIB circuit edit is performed using a finely focused gallium (Ga+) ion beam with nanoscale resolution. It is possible to image, etch and deposit materials on an IC with an extremely high level of precision. By removing and depositing materials, FIB circuit edit enables designers to cut and connect circuitry within the live device, and to create probe points for electrical test. It is the equivalent of performing microsurgery on IC devices. The high-energy Ga+ beam can mill through conductors, and uses various types of gases to either enhance milling precision or more effectively deposit conductive and dielectric materials). For instance, by using appropriate gas chemistries, a choice of tungsten, platinum or silicon dioxide can be very precisely deposited using the ion beam.
In order to perform circuit edits, the FIB tool is coupled to a CAD navigation system that makes it possible to locate the area of interest. FIB circuit edit typically uses the designer’s GDS files to navigate to the precise area. This provides a method to find subsurface features and ensuring that the right edits are made (see Fig. 2). Accurate beam positioning beam is one of the most critical requirements for FIB circuit edit.
Figure 2 CAD layouts are used to perform FIB circuit edits.
FIB CIRCUIT EDIT APPLICATIONS
There are many uses for FIB circuit edit at every commercially available node. It can be used both to verify design change on the tester, and to validate design change at the system board level. Typical applications include:
Fig. 3 shows the best approach for integrating FIB circuit edit into the overall IC development and testing process.
Figure 3 FIB circuit edit can be inserted both at the simulation stage and later during de-bug to optimize success rates during the IC design process.
In the power semiconductor arena, most current control products are fabricated using traditional silicon technology, and FIB circuit edit is performed in much the same way with these devices as it is with any other analog or digital circuit. In the future, there is a strong possibility that drivers will move to wide bandgap materials. FIB circuit edit should offer benefits for these devices, as well. SiC, GaN and other wide bandgap semiconductor materials enable power semiconductor devices to withstand high voltages and temperatures, while providing higher frequency response, increased current density and faster switching speeds. At the same time, however, they present complex challenges related to design and characterization, process monitoring and reliability. Challenges become even more difficult at advanced process nodes.
FIB CIRCUIT EDIT TECHNIQUES CONTINUE TO IMPROVE
There is a relatively common misperception that FIB circuit edit only works well at 90nm and 65nm process nodes, and that it has “run out of gas” at anything below. This is simply not true. Thanks to tool and methodology advances that have been derived from the experience of dedicated teams running thousands of circuit edit hours/months, FIB circuit edit can now be used for more precise beam guidance, operate in smaller areas, perform more intricate operations on both the back and front sides of the device, and handle copper layers.
A major development area for FIB circuit edit is the ability for tools to provide better aspect ratio for smaller cuts as part of the solution. FIB systems continue deliver greater benefits thanks to advances in areas such as ion beam resolution, operating software and CAD navigation. Ion beam resolution advances, alone, have delivered significant new capabilities that have been critical for recognizing small features, aiding in visual end-pointing, enabling precise CAD alignment, and improving box placement accuracy. Fig. 4 shows resolution advances that have been achieved from 2008 to the present.
Figure 4 The image on the left shows bit lines on a 90nm process in 2008, while the image on the right shows the bit line for a sub-25nm device today. (photo courtesy of DCG Systems)
Tool advances are only part of the story, however. Because FIB tools are not entirely automated, there is no under-estimating the critical importance of FIB operator experience to circuit edit success. For example, endpoint detection, or the ability to know when selected layers of interest have been successfully etched) continues to require a high level of skill in order to achieve high success rates. Operator skill in this area is even more important at smaller geometries, and during particularly challenging FIB operations. Also important is the unique operator knowledge in such areas as IC circuitry, IC process technology, ion milling patterns, and general FIB tool usage basics.
Achieving this expertise can be difficult for an in-house operation. Often, larger semiconductor companies who already conduct some level of circuit edit will augment these resources with external service labs that have deeper and more extensive experience in solving the toughest FIB circuit edit challenges. As for small- and mid-sized companies, few can bear the expense of purchasing a FIB tool that might cost $1 million or more. Even if they could afford the tool, it would be difficult to staff a team with the necessary experience to most effectively operate it. Most companies of this size tend to go directly to an external lab that can implement circuit edits to support basic electrical design characterization or verification of redesign parameter, and offers a full range of debug tools necessary for solving difficult logic failures and other anomalies.
BEST PRACTICES FOR FIB CIRCUIT EDIT
There are numerous prerequisites for FIB circuit edit success, including:
Figure 5 Today’s trenching approaches support fine enough resolutions to enable FIB circuit edits at advanced nodes.
Figure 6 Back-side FIB circuit edit is used to introduce a resistor across two nodes.
In another example, Fig. 7 shows a typical back-side FIB circuit edit in which a probe pad is formed for micro probing.
Figure 7 High-resolution trenching enables edits at advanced nodes. [Image courtesy of FIB International Inc.]
GROWING IN VALUE
IC design verification and validation will continue to increase in difficulty as the industry moves down the nano-scale geometry curve. While some may believe that FIB circuit edit is obsolete at today’s advanced nodes, it is actually becoming increasingly valuable for improving the success rates for these designs, which often can cost $10 million or more to bring to market. Due to advances in both tool technology and best practices, FIB circuit edit can be used at advanced nodes for a variety of purposes including debugging and validating fixes, as well as earlier in the process to explore opportunities for design optimization, without having to commit to an expensive and time-consuming full mask spin.
To enable certain features and improve your experience with us, this site stores cookies on your computer. Please click Continue to provide your authorization and permanently remove this message.