SBIR Phase I: Magnetic Current Waveform Capture for Integrated Circuit Diagnostics

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发和评估半导体诊断的新技术：磁电流波形捕获。对于集成电路和印刷电路板的设计者，以及诊断故障部件的工程师和技术人员来说，能够实时监控设备内部的电信号是至关重要的。该项目将探讨一种监测频率达千兆赫的信号的新方法的可行性。磁流波形捕获利用所有电流发出的微弱的空间微观磁场来非侵入性地监测电流本身。为此，将采用高灵敏度、微磁隧道结（MTJ）传感器作为非接触式磁探头。这些最先进的自旋电子传感器提供了无与伦比的场灵敏度和空间分辨率的组合，这对该应用至关重要。该项目将建立一个原型系统，包括关键的前端放大电路和所需的数据处理和演示软件。然后，该系统将用于测量各种现实世界设备上的电流波形。该项目还将探索该技术在空间和时间分辨率方面的最终能力。该项目的更广泛（商业）影响将是一种新的诊断技术，能够为半导体行业提供全新类型的信息。这个工具不仅可以提高芯片制造领域关键部门的效率，还可以提供有关电流波形的信息，这是目前尚不存在的能力。这个项目也将更好地理解这些复杂的设备。高速电子和尖端磁传感器技术的结合也将为科学和工程基础研究的强大实验室工具奠定基础。这种工具可用于研究磁化动力学、材料的电学性质和许多其他问题。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop and evaluate a new technique for semiconductor diagnostics: magnetic current waveform capture. It is critically important to designers of integrated circuits and printed circuit boards, and the engineers and technicians who diagnose failed parts, that they have the ability to monitor the electrical signals inside devices in real time. This project will address the feasibility of a new method for monitoring these signals at frequencies into the gigahertz. Magnetic current waveform capture uses the weak, spatially microscopic magnetic fields emitted by all electrical currents to non-invasively monitor the currents themselves. For this purpose, a highly sensitive, microscopic magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) sensor will be used as the non-contact magnetic probe. These state-of-the-art spintronic sensors offer an unmatched combination of field sensitivity and spatial resolution critical to this application. This project will build a prototype system, including the critical front-end amplification circuitry and the required data processing and presentation software. The system will then be used to do measurements of current waveforms on a wide variety of real-world devices. This project will also explore the ultimate capabilities of the technique in terms of spatial and temporal resolution.The broader (commercial) impacts from this project will be a new diagnostic technique with the ability to provide an entirely new type of information to the semiconductor industry. This tool will not only lead to improved efficiency in critical sectors of the chipmaking world, its ability to provide information about current waveforms - a capability which does not exist at present time. This project will also create better understanding of these complicated devices. The coupling of high-speed electronics and cutting-edge magnetic sensor technology will also lay the groundwork for a powerful laboratory tool for basic research in the sciences and engineering. Such a tool could be used to study magnetization dynamics, electrical properties of materials, and a number of other issues.