Spectroscopic identification of light emitted from defects in silicon devices

A comprehensive study of different fundamental aspects of light emission fr om defects in Si semiconductor devices is presented. Based on an experiment al analysis, using a new highly sensitive spectroscopic photon emission mic roscope (SPEM) for continuous wavelength analysis (2.5 eV-1.2 eV), a unique assignment of the spectrum of the emitted light and the corresponding fail ure mechanism is established. Three distinguishable basic spectral categori es were identified. They were attributed to gate oxide breakdown, metal sho rts, and electro-static discharge caused junction spiking. The focused ion beam technique was used to look at the damage sites for confirmation of the SPEM results. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.