Steffen Sturm

Lock-in thermography allows failure inspection in electronics by detection of inhomogeneous temperature distribution and local power loss in 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional way. This is achieved by using the shortest measurement times combined with a high-performance and high resolution thermographic camera and a specialised lock-in procedure. The power supply for this process is clocked with a synchronisation module and failures that produce mK or even μK differences are reliably detected.

Smallest defects like point and line shunts, oxide failures, transistor and diode failures on a PCB surface and in IC´s can be detected and displayed in x and y positions. Additionally, it is possible to analyse stacked-die packages or multi-chip modules in z-direction with merely changing the lock-in frequency.

In this work the combination of new system hardware and software functions are shown to use HD lock-in thermography in a very flexible way for different components and for fast detection of electrical failures.

Steffen Sturm studied at the Technical University of Dresden Mechanical Engineering and works for InfraTec since 2005 in the division for Automated Thermographic Project Solutions. He is international Project Manager for automated process monitoring and failure analysis especially in the field of semiconductor material and renewable new energy solutions.