(Invited) Microwave-Based Metrology Platform Development: Application of Broad-Band RF Metrology to Integrated Circuit Reliability Analyses

In this paper we describe the development of a suite of techniques, based on the application of high frequency electromagnetic waves (RF), to probe material and structural changes in integrated circuits under various external perturbations. We discuss how RF insertion loss (S21) based-techniques have been used to study the impact of thermal cycling on the thermo-mechanical reliability of Cu TSV-based interconnects in 3D-ICs. In addition, we demonstrate, with preliminary data, how Scanning Microwave Spectroscopy (based around RF reflectance (S11)) can be used to detect buried artifacts and characterize metallic contacts.