Non destructive perspective imaging of integrated circuit chips using near-field scanning microwave microscopy

Near-field scanning microwave microscopy (NSMM) is an emerging imaging technology. In this paper, an easy-to-machine capacitively loaded resonant cavity is designed to realize high-resolution imaging of silicon wafers inside an integrated circuit chip by utilizing the electromagnetic resonant cavity perturbation principle and multi-point S-parameter measurement technique. It is capable of measuring the electromagnetic property parameters of materials in the microscopic scale range. Its advantages of high test sensitivity and non-destructive measurement make it widely used in the characterization and testing of micro and nanostructured material samples, as well as in microscopic research fields such as biological cell scanning. In near-field theory, abrupt waves usually consume their energy within a wavelength distance due to their much faster decay rate than far-field radiation. However, swift waves carry important details about the fine scale of an object. Therefore, obtaining this information in terms of high-resolution imaging of the internal structure of integrated circuit chips remains a worthwhile research problem. In this paper, we obtain the scanning microwave images of a silicon chip hidden under a dielectric layer through simulation and experimental analysis. The experimental results show that our designed NSMM system is capable of realizing high-resolution and clear imaging of silicon wafers inside integrated circuit chips.