Comparative Die-Attach Failure Analysis by Thermoreflectance, Infrared Thermography and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy

Three different methods of failure analysis on die-attaches are presented and compared in the present work. For this purpose, specially designed samples with thermal test chips on top have been used for a modulated thermal excitation to investigate the underlying die-attach layer by lock-in thermography [1]. The thermoreflectance and the lock-in infrared thermography are thermal and non-destructive methods which still must prove their abilities and reliability in die-attach analysis to find the way into working production lines. The results of both methods have been compared to and verified by the common and widely used scanning acoustic microscopy, which has wide-ranging failure detection abilities but compared to thermographic methods it lacks on production line integration capabilities for 100% in-line inspections.