A STUDY OF LOW LEAKAGE

FAILURE MECHANISM
OF MULTILAYER 7XR CERAMIC CAPACITOR

Zhaofeng Wang
International Rectifier Corp.

12/09/21 ISTFA 2006 1

 Presentation Outline
 Introduction
 Hot Spot Detection
 Precision localization
 SEM, STEM Analysis
 Summary
 Acknowledgement

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Illustration of a leaky capacitor in application circuit
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and its IV behavior 3
 y
z

Sectioning and thermal

imaging to
confirm/localize the hot
spot in x-direction
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 X - direction y-direction

Illustration of
approaching the failure
site through y-direction
sectioning and photon
emission micro-probing
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 Laser
marks

Illustration of precision localization using Laser marking,

sectioning and photon emission micro-probing
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failure site SEM: there is no observable physical defect
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SEM
12/09/21close-up showing a grain boundary micro-fracture 8
 intergranular transgranular
High leakage (mA range) failure sites showing micro-fractures

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STEM image of a failure site showing compositional contrast
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