Enabling True Root Cause Failure Analysis Using an Atmospheric Oxygen-Only Plasma for Decapsulation of Advanced Packages

Several failure analysis case studies have been conducted over the past few years, illustrating the importance of preserving root-cause evidence by means of artifact-free decapsulation. The findings from three of those studies are presented in this article. In one case, the root cause of failure is chlorine contamination. In another, it is a combination of corrosion and metal migration. The third case involves an EOS failure, the evidence of which was hidden under a layer of carbonized mold compound. In addition to case studies, the article also includes images that compare the results of different decapsulation methods.