VOLTAGE CONTRAST WITHIN ELECTRON MICROSCOPY: FROM A CURIOUS EFFECT TO DEBUGGING MODERN ICs.

The article focuses on the applications of voltage contrast (VC) measurements in scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) for characterizing and debugging modern integrated circuits (ICs). It explains how VC measurements can probe electrical activity in ICs operating at speeds as high as 2 GHz; discusses the generation of secondary electrons; the factors affecting VC; and its sensitivity, as well as provides examples of VC applications, such as waveform analysis and spectral analysis in ICs.