Dr. Michael Zeuner, CEO, scia Systems GmbH

Whole-Wafer Failure Analysis Enables the Next Era of Semiconductor Complexity

Across the semiconductor industry, applications like AI processors and photonic ICs (PICs), as well as emerging technology enablers like heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging, are pushing device complexity to extreme levels.

As designs become more three-dimensional, this increasing device complexity is placing greater importance on process control and yield management methodologies, such as failure analysis (FA). Traditional FA methods, such as mechanical preparation, wet chemical etching, dry plasma etching, and focused ion beam (FIB) processing, come with trade-offs and are not a one-size-fits-all solution.

These approaches are either limited by a lack of precision, fail to capture wafer-level realities due to their small sample sizes, are destructive to the sample, slow to scale, and/or can introduce artifacts that hide root causes of failures. Overcoming these barriers requires ion-beam-based solutions with a combination of high precision, scalability, and material compatibility.

Whole-wafer FA approaches like our scia Mill series of ion beam etching platforms were designed to address the need for high-precision, repeatable and damage-free material removal for sample preparation. This capability shifts FA from a persistent bottleneck into a strategic accelerator of yield learning and technology deployment. scia Systems is proud to lead this important transformation.