Course 061 IC Reliability, Fault Isolation, and Failure Analysis
Mr. David Vallett, PeakSource Analytical, USA, and Dr. Kristof Croes, Group Leader Interconnect Reliability, Test and Modeling at imec, are teaching this 5-day course in IC Reliability, Fault Isolation, and Failure Analysis.
Quickly finding and eliminating defects in electronic devices is critical to all levels of the many businesses including ICs, PCBs, automotive, consumer, and IoT. This can directly affect technology development, manufacturing yield and time to market, reliability, serviceability, and client satisfaction.
Many factors contribute to the achievement of high yield and reliability and significantly impact product performance and cost. A thorough understanding of product and technology reliability principles and mechanisms of failure is essential.
A fundamental knowledge of defects and failure mechanisms enables the up-front achievement of these technology goals through circuit and layout design, device design, materials choices, process optimization, and thermo-mechanical considerations. Fault isolation, failure analysis, and materials analysis play a major role in the improvement of yield and reliability. Coordination of people in many disciplines is needed in order to achieve high yield and reliability. Each needs to understand the impact of their choices and methods on the final product. Unfortunately, very little formal university training exists in these critical areas of IC reliability, Fault Isolation, and failure analysis.
Available course dates
This course has no planned course dates.
If you are interested in this course, contact us at cei@cei.se
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Quickly finding and eliminating defects in electronic devices is critical to all levels of the many businesses including ICs, PCBs, automotive, consumer, and IoT. This can directly affect technology development, manufacturing yield and time to market, reliability, serviceability, and client satisfaction. Many factors contribute to the achievement of high yield and reliability and significantly impact product performance and cost. A thorough understanding of product and technology reliability principles and mechanisms of failure is essential. A fundamental knowledge of defects and failure mechanisms enables the up-front achievement of these technology goals through circuit and layout design, device design, materials choices, process optimization, and thermo-mechanical considerations. Fault isolation, failure analysis, and materials analysis play a major role in the improvement of yield and reliability. Coordination of people in many disciplines is needed in order to achieve high yield and reliability. Each needs to understand the impact of their choices and methods on the final product. Unfortunately, very little formal university training exists in these critical areas of IC reliability, Fault Isolation, and failure analysis.
COURSE CONTENT
This course contans IC Reliability, Fault Isolation and Failure Analysis.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This course will be of strong interest to engineers working in R&D, design, manufacturing, and reliability of automotive and consumer electronics, and IoT, as well as management, equipment service, and procurement.
It will be relevant both for companies producing integrated circuits themselves and for those involved as partners in the “fabless/foundry” model.
Daily Schedule
Day 1 – KRISTOF CROES
Definitions and Overview of Failure Mechanisms
- Scaling Trends in IC’s
- Yield, Quality and Reliability
- Lifetime, Failure, Degradation and Failure Criterion
- Failure Time Distributions
- Percentiles
- Accelerated Reliability Tests
- Acceleration Factors and Lifetime Models
- Overview of Failure Mechanism
Front-End-Of-Line Failure Mechanisms
- Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown of Gate Oxide
- Bias Temperature Instability
- Hot Carrier Injection
Day 2 – KRISTOF CROES
Back-End-Of-Line (BEOL), Far-BEOL and Packaging Failure Mechanisms
- Electromigration
- Stress Induced Voiding or Stress Migration
- Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown of Intermetal Dielectrics
- Chip Package Interaction
- 3D-related failure mechanisms: Reliability related to Through Silicon Via and stacking challenges
- Packaging-Related Failure Mechanisms
Day 3 AM – KRISTOF CROES
Reliability Methodologiess
- Reliability Evaluation Strategies
- FMEA: Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
- Statistics: Data Fitting Techniques
- Statistics: Techniques to Reduce Uncertainty in Reliability Predictions
Day 3 PM – DAVID VALLETT
IC Fault Isolation and Failure Analysis
- The role of Failure Analysis in Semiconductor Technology Development and Manufacturing
- Differing Failure Analysis strategies for Technology Development, Yield Analysis, and Reliability Engineering
- Client Support and Failure Analysis of Field Returns
- Analytical approaches for Package, Wafer, and Die Level failures
IC Failure Modes and Defects
- Electrical Failure Modes of Logic, SRAM, DRAM, and Analog/Mixed Signal Devices
- Defect Mechanisms in ICs and IC Packages
- Defects in Design, Processing, and Lithography
- Failures Due to Process/Product Interactions
- Test-induced Defects
Fault Isolation
- Electrical vs. Physical Fault Isolation
- Device Characterization
- Prerequisites for Successful Fault Isolation
- Overview of Methods
Electrical Fault Isolation
- Electrical Fault Isolation Purpose, Fundamentals, and Goals
- Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR)
- Electro-optical TeraHertz Pulse Reflectometry (EOTPR)
- SEM and Atomic Force Nanoprobing
- CV Analysis, Pico-current Imaging, Pulsed IV, and Electron Beam Techniques
- Success Factors – Measurement Resolution, Sensitivity, Accuracy, Reliability
Day 4 – DAVID VALLETT
- Physical Fault Isolation Introduction
- Physical Fault Isolation Purpose, Fundamentals, and Goals
- Overview of Thermal, Photonic, Magnetic, and Scanned Particle Beam Methods
- Sample Preparation for Physical Fault Isolation
Photonic Fault Isolation Techniques
- Photon Emission Microscopy (PEM)
- Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (OBIRCH/XIVA/TIVA)
- Optical Beam Induced Current (OBIC)
- Laser Voltage Probing/Imaging (LVP/LVI)
- Light Assisted Device Alteration (LADA)
- Picosecond Imaging Circuit Analysis (PICA)
Physical Fault Isolation Continued
- Thermal Fault Isolation – Liquid Crystal Analysis, Lock-In Thermography
- Magnetic Current Imaging by SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) and GMR (Giant Magneto Resistive) Sensors
- Electron and Ion-Beam Induced Current (EBIC/IBIC)
- Passive Voltage Contrast by Electron and Ion Beam (PVC)
- Atomic Force Microscope Based Physical Fault Isolation
- Success Factors – Measurement Resolution, Sensitivity, Accuracy, Reliability
Device Deprocessing
- Depackaging Techniques – Laser, Chemical, Mechanical, Plasma
- Wafer and Die Deprocessing – Polishing, Chemical Etching, Plasma Etching
- Focused Ion Beam Principles and Applications
Day 5 – DAVID VALLETT
- Physical Imaging
- Optical Microscopy
- Acoustic and X-ray Microscopy/Tomography
- Scanning and Transmitted Electron Microscopy (SEM/TEM)
- Scanned Probe/Atomic Force Microscopy (SPM/AFM)
Materials Analysis
- Basics Materials Analysis Methods for Chemical Composition and Morphology
- Particle Beam Interactions in Solids
- Bulk Composition Analysis: Energy and Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy
- Principles of Electron, Ion, and X-ray Techniques: TEM, AES, SIMS, XPS, and TXRF
- Sensitivity and Resolution Comparisons
- Technique Selection Factors
Practical Applications and Future Challenges
- Case-histories and Examples: Time-resolved Photon Emission Movies of Operating Devices; Nanoscale 3D X-ray Tomography Virtual Sections; Defects; Fault Isolation Results, etc.
- Planning for Analysis to Maximize Effectiveness
- Scaling and Material Challenges in Analytical Science
ALL COURSE DATES FOR THE CATEGORY: Semiconductors Technology
Semiconductors Technology
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Location: Barcelona, Spain Date: April 13 - April 15, 2026 Duration: 3 days
Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Gambino
This advanced 3-day course will provide a high-level overview of the packaging options for semiconductor devices. The course covers design considerations, packaging materials, assembly processes, yield, and reliability. The course is addressed to a broad audience and is not intended as a research review, although it will be taught at a high level and in many areas will require familiarity with the subject matter.
Read full course description including course schedule.
Early Bird
2 280,00 €2 535,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: February 13, 2026
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036 Silicon Device Technology: Materials and Processing Overview
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Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Gambino
This advanced 5-day course is taught by Dr. Jeffrey Gambino, ON Semiconductor, United States which will provide an high-level overview of the entire fabrication process of modern Silicon-Based Integrated Circuits.
This course includes all the key materials involved and the process areas utilized in device manufacturing. The course is addressed to a broad audience and is not intended as a research review, although it will be taught at a high level and in many areas will require familiarity with the subject matter.
Read full course description including course schedule
Early Bird
3 540,00 €3 935,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: March 18, 2026
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This 3-day course includes all the key materials involved and the process areas utilized in device manufacturing, including the starting wafers, device design, wafer fab processes, assembly processes, yield, and reliability. The course is addressed to a broad audience and is not intended as a research review, although it will be taught at a high level and in many areas will require familiarity with the subject matter.
Read full course description including course schedule
Early Bird
2 280,00 €2 535,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026
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075 Heterogeneous integration of chiplets – Defect inspection, metrology and failure analysis
Location: Amersfoort, The Netherlands Date: May 18 - May 20, 2026 Duration: 3 days
Instructor: Dr. Ehrenfried Zschech
Expand your knowledge of the processing, materials, performance, and reliability aspects of heterogeneous integration of chiplets. Let Professor Zschech guide you all the way from 3D advanced packaging technologies through fault isolation and failure analysis up to the kinetics of degradation processes and reliability challenges. This course will include novel aspects of high-performance computing and AI applications that are driving the demand for increased functionality, performance, and reliability.
Read full course description including course schedule.
Early Bird
2 280,00 €2 535,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: March 18, 2026
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This course is intended to provide an understanding of plasma processes for CMOS applications and ULSI technology. We will discuss fundamental and practical aspects of front end and back end plasma processes for deep submicron CMOS logic processes. The course is based on experimental results obtained using commercial etchers connected to very powerful diagnostics of the plasma and the plasma surface interaction. The discussions cover several aspects of etch processes of materials integrated in advanced CMOS devices, etch mechanisms, and situations that may be encountered for some important plasma processes.
Option 2: Take the short Ecourse #089 Plasma Etching for Microelectronics Applications. Combining self-paced e-learning with live weekly sessions with the instructor. Duration in total is two weeks of effective learning. Content based on the first two days of the public course #088.
Option 3: Take the full Ecourse #090 Plasma Etching for Microelectronics Applications: from Fundamental to Practical Applications. Combining self-paced e-learning with live weekly sessions with the instructor. Duration in total is four weeks of effective learning. Content based on complete agenda of the public course #088.
Read full course description including course schedule
Early Bird
2 940,00 €3 265,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026
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This 5-day course on Integrated Circuit and MEMS Fabrication Technologies.
This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the core fabrication technologies behind Integrated Circuits (ICs) and Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)—two pillars of modern microelectronic systems. Participants will explore how foundational technologies like doping, photolithography, etching, and thin-film deposition converge to create the devices that power everything from smartphones to spacecraft.
Designed to bridge the gap between device physics and electronic characteristics, the course examines the intricate process flows of CMOS manufacturing and MEMS fabrication, highlighting how these technologies are integrated in real-world applications. A detailed discussion of 3D micromachining techniques further reveals the power of MEMS in creating multifunctional microsystems.
What You’ll Learn
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The basic physical principles of microelectronic devices
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Key IC fabrication technologies and how they shape device behavior
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Silicon bulk and surface micromachining for MEMS fabrication
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Complete CMOS process flow and technology integration challenges
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The evolution and ecosystem of modern microfabrication
Early Bird
3 540,00 €3 935,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026
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Dr. Okoroanyanwu is also teaching the 2-day course 856 Alternative Lithography . If booking both these courses in the same week, the total course fee will be EUR 3540 pp (Early Bird) or EUR 3935 (regular fee).
Early Bird
2 280,00 €2 535,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026
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Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Date: June 25 - June 26, 2026 Duration: 2 days
Instructor: Dr. Uzodinma Okoroanyanwu
This is a 2-day course, which gives an overview of alternative lithographic technologies, including imprint lithography; colloidal particle self-assembly, self-assembling monolayer, and directed block copolymer self-assembly lithography; scanning (proximal) probe lithography based on scanning tunneling microscopy, scanning atomic force microscopy; stereolithography, and interference lithography. Emphasis will be on each alternative lithographic technique’s tool systems, operational principles and theories that underpin their operation; strategies, processes, and materials used in their operations; their unique features, strengths, and limitations; and specific applications to which they are targeted. Also covered in the course are status, technical challenges, scaling, and future trends of alternative lithographic technologies in general.
Dr. Okoroanyanwu is also teaching the 3-day course 855 Semiconductor Lithography If booking both these courses in the same week, the total course fee will be EUR 3540 pp (Early Bird) or EUR 3935 (Regular fee).
Early Bird
1 560,00 €1 735,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026
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Read full course description including course schedule.
Early Bird
2 940,00 €3 265,00 €
Early Bird Price Ends: April 22, 2026