Epi DIC of an integrated circuit

[wporter]

For your viewing pleasure, a short video I made showing a DiatomShop.com bare IC under reflected-light DIC. The various colors were cycled through, to show the differences in textures and looks of the traces at different levels of the upper prism insertion. The technique was used to help troubleshoot ICs during the development process.

https://youtu.be/O7cPGv0bTDk

Some parts are out of focus, but some parts are in focus; there is a very limited depth of field. The visual sharpness was very much more than that of the video.

(Reichert Univar, 10x and 50x plan fluor objectives. Olympus OMD E-M5 II camera)

[ChrisR]

Interesting. I think some of those details would be hard to see any other way?

[KurtM]

That was fairly mind-blowing on a couple different planes of thought. Thanks for posting that!

[wporter]

Thank you, Kurt. It blew my mind too, and I made it, lol.

Big kudos to Stefano Barone of DiatomShop.com who made the slide. Somehow he got the IC to lay flat ("parfocal") across the field of view.

ChrisR, it was one technique, along with phase contrast and a mixture of techniques, that were used to examine chips for flaws. Today, they may still use some of these techniques, but a lot of it is now electron microscopy due to the nanoscale geometries involved.

More videos to come, as time permits. Any comments or suggestions welcome.

[houstontx]

I've never thought much about reflected light DIC, but your video has definitely set the hook. Excellent vid!

[wporter]

Thank you! I may redo the video beginning to show the appearance under normal epi-illumination, then segue into the DIC.

never thought much about reflected light DIC

It is used for opaque, reflective surfaces mostly, so has limited use in biology, although that's an area ripe for exploration (insect exoskeletons? etc). For the experimenter, epi-DIC has the advantages of 1) only needing one polarizing filter and one prism, instead of two each, and 2) the lucid topography exhibited is real, not false as in trans-DIC.

Great explanatory articles here:

https://www.microscopyu.com/techniques/ ... microscopy

and here:

http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/arti ... trast.html

[apochronaut]

Very illustrative tutorial, Bill. I might just treat my phone with more respect, now. I probably won't leave it on the van roof anymore, at the very least but that might be determined by factors outside the realm of logic anyway.

[PeteM]

FWIW, I've had some luck converting reflected DIC systems to do both transmitted and reflected DIC. So there is even more fun to be had in getting a reflected DIC scope and playing around with it. It does require two sets of reflected DIC prisms and some mechanical work to insert prisms in the condenser.

It's possible to buy entire wafers (6", 8" etc.) with multiple circuits on them (prior to being cut up and leads attached). These are affordable and very cool; especially to see at different magnifications. Viewing them is sort of like seeing the streets of New York City closer and closer. We keep wafers on hand as part of our "Micronaut" science lessons -- the smaller the circuit, the faster it goes and the less power it uses, and the more compact and often cheaper it gets -- Moore's "Law."

It's cool, I think, that the Diatom Shop is getting into this. Thanks for the posting and the excellent video.

[wporter]

Phil, at least most phones these days can't be accidentally flushed down the toilet. Yes, I know someone who did that: dropped it in just as the lever was pressed. (No, it wasn't me...honest)

Pete, that's good info about the wafers. I don't know if DiatomShop is still making these slides; I haven't seen one for sale, lately. If not, perhaps one of us could buy one of the big wafers, and cut them up into single circuits with a wet diamond blade tile saw or something, and sell them off to forum members to mount themselves (no pesky coverglass needed). This would save the need for boiling in hydrofluoric acid, or whatever is required, to un-pot an encapsulated IC.

One issue might be to find a big wafer with an array of good really tiny circuits; some of those on ebay looked rather large, trace-wise.

[houstontx]

Pete,

I think i sent you those AO scopes a year or two ago after selling the olympus objective...currently working with a guy in san jose with his own SEM company...might need to put you two in touch. Looking to source my own sem now...

Still wear my limited edition micronaut shirt!

[MichaelG.]

Having watched your astonishing video, I felt the need to look at a Univar manual !!

The links which you kindly provided on a previous thread are both dead:
viewtopic.php?t=4847
Error 404

I would be most grateful if you could allow access again.

MichaelG.
.
.
Edit: It's O.K. thanks ... I've just found it 'hiding in plain sight' here:
https://user.xmission.com/~psneeley/Per ... l-v1.3.pdf

[apochronaut]

There is also this one .
http://www.science-info.net/docs/reiche ... nglish.pdf

[PeteM]

Pete,

I think i sent you those AO scopes a year or two ago after selling the olympus objective...currently working with a guy in san jose with his own SEM company...might need to put you two in touch. Looking to source my own sem now...

Still wear my limited edition micronaut shirt!

Yes, and still THANKS for helping out our "Micronauts." Great to know you're on this forum. Pete