Localization of Marginal Circuits for Yield Diagnostics Utilizing a Dynamic Laser Stimulation Probing System

We demonstrate isolation of marginal circuits utilizing a probing system with dual time-resolved emission (TRE) and dynamic laser stimulation (DLS) capabilities. Due to design-process interactions, failure of a BIST pattern in random frame buffer I/O cells was causing yield loss. Starting with only the failures' symptoms, we rapidly isolated the problem to a circuit within a PLL, using a PC-based test setup.