Failure Analysis Techniques

THE PHYSICS OF FAILURE effort must bring about a thorough understanding of the causes of device malfunction which then must be used to generate changes in the overall production and control techniques. Texas Instruments Failure Analysis Laboratory has developed a generalized routine for transistor failure analysis and is developing one for integrated microelectronic circuits. The resulting information is relayed to other responsible groups to attempt to prevent recurrence. Principal failure modes and analysis techniques are illustrated by charts.