T. Moor, Datel Electronics, Stone Staffordshire, United Kingdom; E. Malyanker, E. Raz-Moyal, Gatan Inc, Pleasanton, CA

Summary: This paper presents a technique for the full layer-by-layer deprocessing of a single semiconductor device using purely mechanical polishing for Destructive Semiconductor Reverse Engineering (DSRE). Although there are many mechanical polishers and techniques available in the market place and with an expert user can produce satisfying results, there are 2 known concerns: <100% success rate and edge effect. When an FA engineer has returned parts to investigate, or more likely, when a Reverse Engineer needs to employ existing methods to investigate a device as a whole, every sample is a one of a kind and the deprocessing must be well controlled to produce 100% success. Exposing 95% of the die in the centre, leaving out edges and corners may not be good enough. This paper will reveal the overall process flow, the process conditions, the preparation of the sample and the very important and novel changes to the process that are required to delayer a single die to such a high degree of planarity, so 100% of the die can be exposed at the same time and at the same Inter Layer Dielectric (ILD).