Effectiveness of Photon Emission Microscopy in identifying intrinsic device reliability issues and aiding design debug
Effectiveness of Photon Emission Microscopy in identifying intrinsic device reliability issues and aiding design debug
Tuesday, November 18, 2025: 12:50 PM
2 (Pasadena Convention Center)
Summary:
Photon Emission Microscopy (PEM) is a popular failure analysis technique capable of detecting photons emitted from defective circuitry and helps pinpoint the failure location. This technique has helped identify open defects, polysilicon gate defects, gate oxide-related failures, electrostatic discharge failures, metallization failures, logic state detection, memory bit failures, and leakage failures. In this paper, we discuss how photon emission microscopy can be a valuable tool in identifying and understanding intrinsic device reliability issues. We examine how emission intensity, measured by processing photon emission images using a Python script and an open-source computer vision tool, can be used to estimate the relative number of trapped charges compared to leakage over time under applied stress. Through case studies, we show how photon emission microscopy (PEM) can reveal interactions between design processes and different IP blocks within a microelectronic chip. Finally, we highlight how PEM’s high sensitivity can aid in design debugging by uncovering potential vulnerabilities that could affect future tape-outs.
Photon Emission Microscopy (PEM) is a popular failure analysis technique capable of detecting photons emitted from defective circuitry and helps pinpoint the failure location. This technique has helped identify open defects, polysilicon gate defects, gate oxide-related failures, electrostatic discharge failures, metallization failures, logic state detection, memory bit failures, and leakage failures. In this paper, we discuss how photon emission microscopy can be a valuable tool in identifying and understanding intrinsic device reliability issues. We examine how emission intensity, measured by processing photon emission images using a Python script and an open-source computer vision tool, can be used to estimate the relative number of trapped charges compared to leakage over time under applied stress. Through case studies, we show how photon emission microscopy (PEM) can reveal interactions between design processes and different IP blocks within a microelectronic chip. Finally, we highlight how PEM’s high sensitivity can aid in design debugging by uncovering potential vulnerabilities that could affect future tape-outs.