Enhanced passivation integrity test for improved passivation failure detection

The passivation or glassivation of a die seals the top metallization of a micro device from moisture and mobile contaminants. It also prevents the die from mechanical and chemical damage during final assembly. Because of its importance, the passivation should be care fully assessed for thickness, cove rage and integrity. A passivation integrity test is usually performed to check the structural quality of the passivation film on new process developed devices. However, as the complexity of top metallization increases/becomes denser and as metallization dimension shrinks, detection of passivation defect (e.g. pinhole, cracks, etc.) would be a challenge using the standard passivation integrity test. Hence, by enhancing the standard passivation integrity test procedure, the detection of passivation flaws can be easily eased.