Laser probes for the thermal and thermomechanical characterisation of microelectronic devices

This paper presents a review of some of the recent works that we have done on thermal characterisation of running electronic devices by laser probing. Both the single point probing and the surface imaging methodologies are co nsidered. Besides temperature mapping, laser point probing allows fault det ection in integrated circuits. Electronic speckle pattern interferometry an d shearography metholologies are presented, and examples of images of runni ng power devices and this relation to the underlying thermornechanical stre ss are shown. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.