LiteScope Helps Localize Defects Invisible to SEM in a Joint Study with NVIDIA

In this study ("Streamlined Advanced Semiconductor Failure Analysis Through In-Situ CAFM and Plasma FIB Integration"), Chuan Zhang and Jane Li (NVIDIA), together with Radek Dao and Rosalinda Ring (NenoVision), combined CAFM and plasma FIB into one in-situ workflow. The LiteScope AFM-in-SEM kept the sample under vacuum throughout, removing repeated transfers and vacuum cycles while preserving pristine surfaces for high-quality CAFM imaging. On a stacked-die package, plasma FIB milling handled in-situ delayering and created a grounding path that let CAFM localize leaky gate defects, even where SEM showed no visual defect.

We would like to congratulate the authors, including our colleagues at NVIDIA, on this important contribution to semiconductor failure analysis, and we are proud that LiteScope AFM-in-SEM could support their work.

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