Thermal vulnerability detection in integrated electronic and photonic circuits using IR thermography

TL;DR

This paper introduces an IR thermography-based method for detecting thermal vulnerabilities in integrated electronic and photonic circuits, enabling precise failure prediction and heat spot localization.

Contribution

It extends thermal reliability testing to photonic systems and combines IR thermography with image fusion for accurate heat center identification.

Findings

Effective heat spot localization in photonic and electronic circuits

Successful application to microwave photonic systems

Enhanced reliability assessment through IR thermography

Abstract

Failure prediction of any electrical/optical component is crucial for estimating its operating life. Using high temperature operating life (HTOL) tests, it is possible to model the failure mechanisms for integrated circuits. Conventional HTOL standards are not suitable for operating life prediction of photonic components owing to their functional dependence on thermo-optic effect. This work presents an IR-assisted thermal vulnerability detection technique suitable for photonic as well as electronic components. By accurately mapping the thermal profile of an integrated circuit under a stress condition, it is possible to precisely locate the heat center for predicting the long-term operational failures within the device under test. For the first time, the reliability testing is extended to a fully functional microwave photonic system using conventional IR thermography. By applying image fusion using affine transformation on multimodal acquisition, it was demonstrated that by comparing the IR profile and GDSII layout, it is possible to accurately locate the heat centers along with spatial information on the type of component. Multiple IR profiles of optical as well as electrical components/circuits were acquired and mapped onto the layout files. In order to ascertain the degree of effectiveness of the proposed technique, IR profiles of CMOS RF and digital circuits were also analyzed. The presented technique offers a reliable automated identification of heat spots within a circuit/system.