SBIR Phase I: Scanning Magnetic Microscropy for Real-time Electromigration Imaging

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的目的是证明开发一种磁显微镜技术的可行性，用于电流密度的实时成像，具有亚微米分辨率，用于分析电迁移（EM）过程。 EM故障仍然是半导体行业面临的最具挑战性的问题之一。显微镜技术使用专门设计的磁传感器称为磁隧道结。通过非侵入性地测量和分析载流元件产生的磁场，可以在环境条件下以高灵敏度和分辨率实时成像EM过程。第一阶段的研究将集中在该技术的商业可行性的两个关键问题：1）设计和制造具有低噪声和高温耐受性的传感器，以实现实时操作; 2）优化电子和算法，以应用于多级和深亚微米IC。电磁感应失效分析是半导体工业中最活跃的研究领域之一。对于任何芯片制造商来说，能够实时和现场表征EM都很重要。研究成果在半导体集成电路、数据存储等电子学相关领域具有广泛的应用前景。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a magnetic microscopy technique for real-time imaging of electrical current densities with sub-micron resolution for the analysis of electromigration (EM) processes. EM failure remains one of the most challenging problems facing the semiconductor industry. The microscopy technique uses specially designed magnetic sensors called magnetic tunneling junctions. By non-invasively measuring and analyzing the magnetic fields generated by current-carrying elements, one can image EM processes in real-time, with high sensitivity and resolution under ambient conditions. The Phase I research will focus on two critical issues for the commercial viability of this technique: 1) the design and fabrication of sensors with low noise and high-temperature tolerance for real-time operation; 2) optimization of electronics and algorithms for application to multi-level and deep sub-micron ICs. EM-induced failure analysis remains one of the most active fields of study in the semiconductor industry. It is important to any chip manufacturer that it be able to characterize EM in real-time and on-site. The research results will have numerous potential applications in electronics-related fields including semi conductor integrated circuits and data storage.