Detectability of dynamic photon emission in static Si CCD for signal path determination in integrated circuits

The detection of dynamic photon emission by static cameras is an inexpensive approach to track circuit signal paths, but successful application depends on the signal pattern and frequency the devices are operating at. For improvement of predictability, a model has been developed, built upon the composition of operating modes and targeted to calculate the static emission signal. On single transistor test structures, the model is verified and an operating frequency correlates to the detection limit. Ring oscillator results confirm that only a fraction of the inverter switching time is accompanied by photon emission. At a real circuit it is demonstrated that operating condition limits for signal path detection in static photon emission detectors can be defined.