Failure analysis techniques for semiconductors and other devicessemiconductors Failure analysis techniques for semiconductors and other devices Knowing why devices fail is a must when designing next-generation products. By V. Lakshminarayanan T oday’s electronic systems are becoming more complex and compact. Concepts of quality and reliability are increasingly applied to products and yet system component failures are still common. Failure of a system causes disruption in the service and costly down-time for repair, which affects the economy of operation. Failure analysis (FA) can give valuable insight into the causes of failure and provide inputs for product improvement. It is also a tool for system reliability evaluation. Several techniques are used to carry out the FA of electronic components, some of which are described in this article. Examples……