Die Level Traceability as an Essential Tool in Failure Analysis and the Road to Zero Defects

The success of failure analysis and related investigations rely on the quality of information made available to the investigating team. When die level traceability (DLT) is implemented on the product, the actual location of a particular unit in the wafer and all the available data can be traced back and pieced together to reveal insights on the possible root cause( s). The data for the specific unit can be determined, then analyzed and compared with the lot distribution to check for any information that could help the analyses and investigations. With access to the original data, a failing unit can be investigated to determine which data have changed which can prove essential to the direction of failure analysis approach. Four case studies will be discussed to demonstrate how DLT enabled fast, accurate and detailed root-cause identification leading to effective corrective and preventive actions.