http://fbs.advantageinc.com/chipscale/jul-aug_2016/#56 Read about how A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics consortium will tackle IOT demands by developing low-cost, high reliability and performance packaging for MEMs Wafer Level Chip Scale and Silicon Photonics. These new packaging solutions will certainly require new and innovative failure analysis techniques.
Author Archives: latticegear
LatticeAx used to prepare GaN m-plane end facets
Researchers at Yale University developed a novel conductivity based selective electrochemical etching to introduce nanometer sized pores into GaN. The fabrication process for the edge-emitting laser cavity samples included cleaving with the LatticeAx 420, diamond-tipped cleaving tool to form the GaN m-plane end facets. See the paper in the Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9748 97480Q-7. For […]
LatticeGear introduces the NEW LatticeAx 225
The NEW LatticeAx 225 integrates an ultra-stable indent and cleaving platform with the 120 base indent and cleaving system. This system is easy to operate and compact ( platform is 13″x11″). The new design enables magnification and focus to be changed without mechanical adjustments to the microscopes working distance. The perfect, indent and cleaving system with microscope […]
Cleaving Copper C4 Bumps
The LatticeAx was a key component of the sample preparation workflow for preparing copper C4 bumps for examination in the SEM. The results revealed the bump-metallization interface. The process was more cost effective and could be achieved much faster in comparison to using a focused ion beam (FIB) instrument. Read More
LatticeAx Cleaving SmB6 at the Cavendish Lab
The LatticeAx supported a discovery that Dr. Suchitra Sebastian of the University’s Cavendish Laboratory and her team of PhD students weren’t expecting. Read More
Cleaving Glass Slides
The glass slide above was cleaved with the LatticeAx 120. The LatticeAx produces clean edges without creating fractures. This method was used to prepare samples for further analysis using and AFM of samples mounted on the surface of the slide. This technique was used by researchers at Penn State to downsize a glass slide containing carefully prepared […]
Cleaving Etched TSV Structures
Optical and SEM images of etched TSVs. Note the clean cleave with mirror finish. The long cleave enables inspection of many vias. SEM image at 10kV in SE mode.
Cleaving Photoresist
Photoresist, because it is soft, makes it difficult to cross section mechanically or with the FIB. The best solution is to cleave the sample and image it directly in the SEM. This makes the LatticeAx the perfect tool for sample preparation of photoresist cross sections. The resist structure is not changed in the process and […]
Cleaving a Die Attached to a Host Substrate
The original die was depackaged, too thin to handle any other way, the die was attached to a host substrate. The LatticeAx was used to downsize the sample in preparation for further processing. The indent was created on the host substrate. No special process was used to indent and cleave the sample.
Downsizing die to fit your Prober or SEM or FIB sample holder
Downsize die to fit your Prober, SEM or FIB sample holder without any “cracking” risk Using the LatticeAx, a controlled, precise cleaving process was developed to downsize out-of-a-package samples repeatedly in <1-min. No skills required and no pre-prep. Single step for thin samples (‘out-of-a-package’ die or back-thinned samples): Using the LatticeAx’s microline indent to cleave, the […]