Dynamic Laser Stimulation: Timing Analysis of Tester Operated Integrated Circuits Stimulated by an Infra-Red Laser

It is assumed that dynamic analysis of ICs will keep on progressing especially due to the increasing clock rates. Operation in higher frequency ranges requires a high-level quality delay testing capability. Dynamic Laser Stimulation techniques allow timing analysis of devices. CMOS devices, like delay chains and scan chains are investigated by DLS techniques. In order to detect very small laser-induced propagation delay variations with high resolution on the delay chains, different experimental setups are built and they are compared considering the acquisition time and signal quality. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the pulsed laser can suppress the laser induced secondary effects in opposition to the continuous wave laser. For the timing analysis of ICs, a new and systematic method is developed, which uses “soft fault injection” phenomenon on the scan chains. It can identify the most sensitive signal condition to the laser stimulation by using 1064 nm pulsed laser beam.