Electronics Failure Analysis
Contactless and electro-optical approaches that can complement established workflows for semiconductor and electronic-device analysis.
Electronics Failure Analysis: measurement approach and use cases
Work begins with the material and the decision that the measurement must support. Feasibility depends on dielectric properties, water content, thickness, roughness, geometry, access, and the scale of the feature being sought. The same nominal frequency range may therefore be useful in one polymer stack and strongly attenuated in another sample.
An application study normally combines representative specimens, a controlled acquisition protocol, and a reference description obtained through another measurement or expert assessment. The objective is not merely to produce a visually convincing image, but to determine which feature of the signal is stable, specific enough for the question, and compatible with the practical constraints of the domain.
Validation requirements and practical limits
Terahertz results should be compared with reference measurements and interpreted within the limits of the sample set. Laboratory feasibility does not by itself establish operational readiness. Transfer may require larger cohorts, blind testing, calibration standards, faster acquisition, robust positioning, environmental control, uncertainty budgets, and integration with an existing decision process.
Related publications
- A comprehensive study of the application of the EOP techniques on bipolar devices — DOI
The study demonstrates that Electro‑Optical Probing (EOP), a non‑invasive laser‑based diagnostic technique, can be reliably applied to bipolar semiconductor devices to uncover internal electrical activity and identify failure mechanisms that are otherwise invisible to conventional analysis. By measuring the modulation of a reflected 1350 nm laser beam on the backside of transistors, the researchers quantitatively correlated signal variations with the electric field, carrier distribution, and doping profiles within the base, emitter and collector regions. Experiments on both a reference NPN transistor array and a…
- Iterative Tree Algorithm to Evaluate Terahertz Signal Contribution of Specific Optical Paths Within Multilayered Materials — DOI
Terahertz time‑domain spectroscopy (THz‑TDS) is a powerful, contact‑less technique for probing the internal structure of layered materials, a capability that is increasingly valuable in aerospace, automotive, composite manufacturing, and cultural heritage conservation. Conventional THz‑TDS analysis relies on inverse electromagnetic problems that recover layer thicknesses and dielectric constants from a recorded reflected or transmitted pulse. These methods, however, treat the measured signal as a single entity and do not reveal which specific optical paths—reflections and transmissions at each interface—contribute to the observed waveform. This lack…
- Guided Reflectometry Imaging Unit Using Millimeter Wave FMCW Radars — DOI
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