I have been a laboratory technician of failure analysis for five years.

In my time as a
laboratory technician I have learned multiple skills and equipment necessary to
complete daily tasks. I chose to write my formal report about failure analysis because I
have the knowledge and understanding of different methods to use. I also chose this
subject for the purpose of helping other engineers and technicians who lack the
knowledge and skills or might need to refresh the knowledge and skills of failure
analysis.
I chose to write about five different skills and equipment I felt were vital in completing
failure analysis work. I chose to center my attention on Probing Station, Scanning
Electron Microscope, Cross Sections, decapsulation and x-ray. These five things are
necessary in failure analysis
Probing stations allows us to analyze microchips by looking for breaks and high
resistance in a microchip. This piece of equipment is essential because it helps
determine locations in a microchip that have issues. This then gives an idea of what
kind of failure analysis procedure to use to physically look at the problem.
Scanning Electron Microscopes are high powered microscopes that allow us to see
small areas that a traditional microscope cannot.
Cross section is a method of failure analysis that opens up a die to see the inners. Its
like sawing through a tree and seeing the circular grains in the tree stump.
Decapsulation is a method of removing the outer layers of a microchip to see the inside
materials. This is normally done through a chemical process using acids and bases.
This can also be done mechanically but few prefer his way because it is more likely to
be damaged.
X-Ray is a device used to see through the outer materials to the inside of a microchip to
look at the metals. This allows the ability to find cracks in the metals without doing
anything to the microchip.
For more information regarding these five things read my formal report. It has in-depth
details about them. It also explains the procedures for doing the techniques and running
the equipment.