Ultrasonic Imaging of Microscopic Defects to Help Improve Reliability of Semiconductors and Electronic Devices

Hitachi Power Solutions’ SAT is an instrument that uses ultrasound to nondestructively detect and image defects such as cracks and delamination in semiconductors and other electronic devices. To achieve high inspection image resolution, it uses an acoustic lens to create a focused beam of ultrasound that is transmitted into the object of inspection. As electronic devices become increasingly compact, measurement images need to have higher resolution and definition. To meet these needs, Hitachi Power Solutions’ SAT achieves higher resolution by incorporating an instrument that emphasizes the high-frequency components of the ultrasound transmitted to the object of inspection. This improves detectability from the conventional limit of about 2.5 to 4 μm, to 1 to 1.6 μm. And, by incorporating a process that performs deconvolution by considering the intensity distribution of the focused ultrasonic beam that is transmitted, resulting in a 60% improvement in contrast and a higher-definition inspection image.