Through-the-substrate investigation of flip-chip IC's

摘要

Methods are provided for exposing a selected feature of an IC device, such as a selected conductor, from the back side of the substrate without disturbing adjacent features of the device, such as active regions. One such method comprises: (a) determining a region of the IC device in which the selected feature is located; (b) acquiring from the back side of the substrate an IR optical microscope image of the region; (c) aligning the IR optical microscope image with a coordinate system of a milling system; and (d) using structures visible in the IR optical microscope image as a guide, operating the milling system to expose the selected feature from the back side of the IC device without disturbing adjacent features.