Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging - Video

This Hiden Analytical video shows a mass resolved Aluminium image taken using 5 keV Cs ions. The subject is the bond pad connection area of an integrated circuit, the pads being 100µm squares. Tracks connecting the pads to the circuit are also visible.

The pads show bright areas of exposed aluminium to which the contact wires will be bonded. However, some pads are distinctly dimmer and these are implicated in poor and failing connections to the chip. The movie shows a single bond pad being isolated by first a lateral movement and then increasing magnification, such that eventually it fills the entire scanned area. Mass spectral data can then be acquired and compared with that from good pads to determine the nature and cause of the surface contamination.

It should be noted that the colour scale is automatically adjusted during the analysis and the sudden increase in brightness towards the end is due to the rescaling of the picture once the high concentration regions are no longer in view and not more Al being measured.