Hot-Spot Detection in Integrated Circuits by Substrate Heat-Flux Sensing

This letter presents a novel approach to detect hot spots (HSs) in active integrated circuits (ICs) and devices. It is based on sensing the HS heat flux within the chip substrate with a probe-laser beam. As the beam passes through the die, it experiences a deflection directly proportional to the hea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE electron device letters 2008-10, Vol.29 (10), p.1142-1144
Main Authors: Perpina, X., Altet, J., Jorda, X., Vellvehi, M., Millan, J., Mestres, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Beams (radiation)
Circuit testing
CMOS integrated circuits
CMOS technology
Deflection
Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing
Detection
Device thermal characterization
Devices
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Heat flux
Heat transfer
Hot spots
hot-spot (HS) detection
Infrared heating
integrated circuit (IC) testing
Integrated circuits
Laser beams
Luminescence
MOSFET circuits
Passivation
Photonic integrated circuits
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
substrate heat-flux sensing
Temperature measurement
Testing, measurement, noise and reliability
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Summary:This letter presents a novel approach to detect hot spots (HSs) in active integrated circuits (ICs) and devices. It is based on sensing the HS heat flux within the chip substrate with a probe-laser beam. As the beam passes through the die, it experiences a deflection directly proportional to the heat flux found along its trajectory (internal infrared laser deflection technique). The proposed strategy allows inspecting the chip through its lateral sides (lateral access), avoiding the metal and passivation layers placed over the die. The obtained results demonstrate the suitability of this technique to locate and characterize devices behaving as hot spots in nowadays IC CMOS technologies.
ISSN:0741-3106
1558-0563
DOI:10.1109/LED.2008.2002751