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4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Semiconductor Measurement Technology:

"Techniques for Measuring the Integrity of Passivation Overcoats on Integrated Circuits"

5. Publication Date

March 1977

6. Performing Organization Code

7. AUTHOR(S)

Werner Kern and Robert B. Comizzoli

9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

RCA Laboratories

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Complete Address (Street, City, State, ZIP)

8. Performing Organ. Report No.

10. Project/Task/Work Unit No.

11. Contract/Grant No.

NBS 5-35913

13. Type of Report & Period Covered

Final Report (4-24-75 to 4-30-76) 14. Sponsoring Agency Code

This work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under ARPA Order 2397, Program Code 6D10. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-608229

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant bibliography or literature survey, mention it here.)

Conventional test methods to evaluate the quality of glass passivation overcoats on semiconductor devices are generally inadequate and/or destructive. Three new methods have been devised that overcome these problems: (1) Sequential selective chemical etching of metal/dielectric structures to detect buried, latent, or partial defects as a function of dielectric layer depth. (2) Electrophoretic cell decoration with uv phosphor particles suspended in an insulating liquid, the sample forming one electrode of the cell. (3) Electrostatic corona charging to selectively deposit surface ions from a high voltage dc discharge on the insulating surfaces of the sample, followed by placing of the charged sample in a suspension of charged carbon black particles in an insulating liquid; depending on the polarity of the ions the particles can be deposited on the insulator surface or at the defect sites. The etching method is most suitable in process research studies, and the electrophoretic technique for demarcating relatively large defects. The corona decoration method, coupled with automated instrumental read-out based on measuring the reflected light intensity, is ideal for routine testing of devices because it is fast, simple sensitive, and nondestructive to devices such as glass passivated bipolar and MOS ICs. The practical benefits of the new test methods can be considerable in production and product control, with cost savings through early detection of production line defects. and rapid corrective action.

17. KEY WORDS (six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first letter of the first key word unless a proper name; separated by semicolons) Corona charging decoration; dielectric defect detection; electrophoretic decoration; integrated circuit quality control; selective chemical etching; and semiconductor device reliability.