ION-BEAM-INDUCED CHARGE COLLECTION (IBICC) MICROSCOPY OF ICS - RELATION TO SINGLE EVENT UPSETS (SEU)

Single event upset (SEU) imaging is a new diagnostic technique recentl y developed using Sandia's nuclear microprobe. This technique directly images, with micron resolution, those regions within an integrated ci rcuit which are susceptible to ion-induced malfunctions. Such malfunct ions are an increasing threat to space-based systems which make use of current-generation IC designs. A complementary technique to SEU imagi ng involves measurement of the charge collection volumes within integr ated circuits; charge collection is the underlying physical process re sponsible for single event phenomena. This technique, which we term io n beam induced charge collection (IBICC), has been used here and elsew here to generate micron resolution maps of the charge collection respo nse of integrated circuits. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of combining the SEU imaging and IBICC techniques in order to gain a b etter understanding of single event upset phenomena. High resolution I BICC images are used to extract more detailed information from charge collection spectra than that obtained from conventional broad-area ion exposures, such as from radioactive sources. Lastly, we suggest the a pplication of IBICC as a replacement for electron beam induced conduct ion/current (EBIC) measurements. As reductions in circuit feature size continue in the submicron regime, IBICC could certainly prove to be a technologically valuable replacement for EBIC and an important busine ss opportunity for all nuclear microprobe facilities.