Application Solution-Use infrared thermal imaging system to detect the power distribution on the flexible chip

Using infrared thermal imaging system to detect the power distribution on the flexible chip

Due to the increase in power consumption and the reduction in the size of functional components in modern microprocessor chips, the power density and gradient of the package have been significantly improved. Infrared thermal imaging of semiconductor chips has become a more useful tool, and it is particularly important to visualize the thermal power distribution on the chip in real time. By identifying hot spots on the chip, wafer and chip packaging issues related to design, process, and defects can be further resolved.

The picture shows the thermal test and imaging flow chart

The researchers designed an infrared thermal imaging system to visualize the heat map and predict the power distribution on the chip in real time. This is also the first time that the infrared imaging function is directly implemented on the existing fully supported manufacturing test platform and infrastructure, including hardware support (fired on the motherboard, slots, tools), and software support infrastructure. The most important thing is that once the product hardware ages, this system can be used by multiple users, and can be used by multiple products.

The picture shows the comparison between the computational fluid dynamics modeling results (left) and the infrared thermal image (right)

This system is a flexible, general-purpose infrared thermal imaging system developed directly on existing tools to evaluate chip space temperature and power distribution. The system can be used to evaluate the response to "fast" events (such as power spikes), and can also be used to verify electromigration and Joule heating effects for full-chip and microscale studies.

The picture shows the chip hot spot under infrared thermal imaging

This work has been successfully applied to investigate wafer probe power and thermal issues in high-end server products. In addition, the researchers have proposed a new concept of chip product thermal certification, which is flexible and efficient, and may replace the traditional thermal test vehicle certification. This technology can reduce manpower, cost and time, and requires only minimal customization and special resources to support. It enables us to study various non-uniform power modes and conditions.

Reference materials:

Chenzhou Lian, Marc Knox, Kamal Sikka, et al. Development of a Flexible Chip Infrared (IR) Thermal Imaging System for Product Qualification[C]. 28th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, 2012.