Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: DMEA132-002

Description

To address the DMEA need for accurate identification and analysis of semiconductor materials with high-resolution imaging of integratedcircuits (ICs), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) developed and evaluated the feasibility of novel Nano-Resolution Three-DimensionalIntegrated Circuit Reconstruction (NEOTERIC) System for in situ full reverse engineering of ICs based on swing nanolaminography and anovel X ray filtered multispectral imaging technique, both providing simultaneous 3D IC imaging and identification and 3D localization ofnanomaterial structures of ICs. NEOTERIC offers access to high-performance 3D nanoresolution (<40 nm) imaging capabilities, and fast(<8 hr) throughput for timely IC material identification and reverse engineering efforts, which directly address the DMEA requirements. InPhase I, POC successfully evaluated the feasibility of NEOTERIC by developing its hardware components and appropriate imageprocessing and reconstruction software, and verified NEOTERIC operation on a benchtop prototype. In Phase II, POC plans to build afunctional NEOTERIC prototype capable of performing nanoresolution and practical full IC reverse engineering in accordance with DMEAperformance specifications, and to test and demonstrate the feasibility of the prototype over multiple dissimilar modern ICs (i.e., 90 nmtechnology node or better), and deliver the prototype to the government for further testing.