Electroluminescence Localization Techniques

What is fault localization?

Fault Localization is the manufacturing step that attempts to isolate the defective areas on the die of failed units.

 Two main categories of fault localization exist: passive and active. Active techniques typically use a scanning ionizing beam (e.g., a laser beam) to stimulate the failure source. The most common passive technique is photon emission microscopy by means of sensitive (appropriately cooled) cameras. It relies on the fact that various types of failures will emit small amounts of light (photon emission, or also electroluminescence) when the failure is occurring.

What is Electroluminescence?
There are two main ways of producing light: incandescence and luminescence. In incandescence, electric current is passed through a conductor (filament) whose resistance to the passage of current produces heat. The greater the heat of the filament, the more light it produces. Luminescence, in contrast, is the name given to "all forms of visible radiant energy due to causes other than temperature.

 There are a number of different types of luminescence, including (among others): electroluminescence, chemiluminescence, cathodoluminescence, and photoluminescence.
Most "glow in the dark" toys take advantage of photoluminescence: light that is produced after exposing a photoluminescent material to intense light. Chemiluminescence is the name given to light that is produced as a result of chemical reactions, such as those that occur in the body of a firefly. Cathodoluminescence is the light given off by a material being bombarded by electrons (as in the phosphors on the faceplate of a cathode ray tube). Electroluminescence is the production of visible light by a substance exposed to an electric field without thermal energy generation.

Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical phenomenon and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field.

 Electroluminescence relies on the same principle as a light emitting diode (LED). Current is fed into a solar cell (essentially a large diode) and radiative recombination of carriers causes light emission. As an indirect bandgap semiconductor, most of the recombination in silicon occurs via defects. This technique requires electrical contact and so can only be used once the metallization has been applied and the cell is substantially complete. Electroluminescence provides a wealth of data about the area related uniformity of solar cells and modules. It is non-destructive and relatively fast with measurement times of 1 s possible.

Factors that can in many cases negatively effect device power and lifespan, but are invisible to the human eye:
Microfissures and chips, as well as complete breakage in one or over several cells

Device impurities
Wafer crystallization defects Interrupted contact fingers and/or cell breaks that result in an electric separation, and therefore deactivate individual cell pieces General signs of defective cell processing The issues and defects presented above can be detected with electroluminescence imaging in just a few minutes, and allow one to draw conclusions about the tested modules material and processing quality.

Electro-luminescence image of a monocrystalline silicon wafer

The intensity of the light given off is proportional to the voltage, so poorly contacted and inactive regions show up as dark areas. The micocrack and printing problem are not detectable with visual inspection.