Numerical Simulations to Improve the Accuracy of Electron-Beam Testing on Passivated Integrated Circuits

The Scanning Electron Microscope associated with a Voltage Contrast system is a contactless and non-destructive tool for the test of VLSI Circuits. Moreover, the potential of passivated tracks can be evaluated by Capacitive Coupling Voltage Contrast (CCVC). This paper presents a numerical simulation applied to improve the accuracy of CCVC measurements. Particularly, the role of the location of the beam, and the influence of the potential of the neighbouring tracks and of the extraction grid is studied.