Invited - High-resolution, Data-driven 3D X-ray Imaging of Microchips using Ptychography

¹ PSI Center for Photon Science, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, 5232, Switzerland
² CSIRO, Mineral Resources, Clayton South, Australia
³ PSI Center for Life Sciences, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, 5232, Switzerland
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
⁵ Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⁶ Quantum Center, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⁷ Institute of Physics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland,

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 22 September 2025

Abstract

As transistor dimensions have shrunk over the years, X-ray microscopy resolution has also improved to meet the demands of the semiconductor industry. Although electron microscopy can achieve higher resolution, X-rays offer unique advantages, including non-destructive 3D imaging of fully intact integrated circuit dies and the future possibility of imaging under operando conditions. In this work, we demonstrate the capabilities of ptychographic X-ray computed tomography for 3D microchip imaging at 4 nm resolution. To achieve such performance, we introduce newly developed methods to overcome nm-scale experimental instabilities and depth-of-field limitations. Microchip-specific high-throughput data collection methods will also be introduced.