A novel non-destructive and non-contacting technique for the spatially resolved detection of small leakage currents in electronic devices and MOS materials is presented. Highly-sensitive lock-in infrared (IR-) thermography is used to localize leakage current induced temperature variations down to 10 μK at a lateral resolution down to 5 μm. Leakage currents of about 1 mA can be localized within seconds and some μA may be detected after less than 1 h measurement.

X-ray stress analysis (XSA) in the near surface region of polycrystalline materials is usually performed on the basis of the well-known sin(2)psi -method. An alternative measuring concept is given by the scattering vector method which is based on the variation of the penetration depth tau of the X-rays by the rotation eta of the sample around the diffraction vector g(hkl) for fixed inclination angles psi. In the paper, a new type of a 5-circle diffractometer ('ETA-diffractometer') for residual stress gradient as well as texture analysis is presented, which realises the eta -rotation in a straight forward way by means of one single physical axis.

The residual stress distribution in microwave sintered functionally graded materials (FGM) consisting of Ni and 8Y-ZrO2 was analyzed by non-destructive diffraction experiments. In order to evaluate the residual stress state in the near surface region as well as in the bulk of the material, complementary methods were applied. Using conventional X-ray sources the residual stresses at the surface were investigated by the sin(2)psi-method. For the interior of the material high energy synchrotron radiation was used allowing high spatial resolution. The residual stress state was found to be related to the compositional distribution of the present phases, their volume fraction and their coefficients of thermal expansion as well as to the additive ZrSiO4 in the ceramic rich region of the gradation. Additionally, the line broadening was analyzed by a single-line method with respect to plastic deformation of the metallic phase, in order to characterize the microstructure of the samples.

Grown-in crystal defects like crystal originated particles (COPs) in Czochralski grown silicon wafers deteriorate the yield of metal oxide semiconductor devices by causing dielectric breakdown of the insulating oxide layer. The technique of lock-in IR-thermography is presented, which allows the localization of active gate oxide integrity (GOI) defects with a lateral resolution of about 10 μm as well as to make a full wafer image of electrically broken down GOI defects. Using this technique, the density and the distribution of GOI defects was determined across whole wafers. MOS structures with Si substrate materials with different COP densities and with various oxide thickness were analyzed. Single GOI defects were activated by a current limited breakdown and localized with lock-in IR-thermography. Planar TEM specimens were prepared and the defect origin was examined.

The residual stress distribution in microwave sintered metal-ceramic functionally graded materials consisting of Ni/8YZrO2(ZrSiO4) was analysed. In order to get information of the residual stress state in the bulk of the material in dependence of the composition, high energy X-rays delivered from an electron storage ring allowing high spatial resolution was chosen. The stress state was found to be related to the compositional distribution of the present phases and the coefficients of thermal expansion. The partial substitution of 8Y-ZrO2 by ZrSiO4 in the ceramic rich area of the sample influences the residual stresses on micro- and macroscopical scale.

The residual stress state in microwave sintered metal-ceramic functionally graded materials (FGM) consisting of 8Y-ZrO 2 /Ni and 8Y-ZrO 2 /NiCr8020, respectively, was analysed by non-destructive diffraction methods. In order to get knowledge of the complete residual stress state in the near surface region as well as in the interior of the material, complementary methods were applied. Whereas the surface was characterised by X-ray techniques using conventional sources, the stresses within the bulk of the material were investigated by means of high energy synchrotron radiation. The stress state was found to obey the differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion (microstresses) on the one hand and the inhomogeneous cooling conditions (macrostresses) on the other hand.

The application of the formalism for residual-stress gradient evaluation based on the measuring principle of the scattering-vector method, which has been derived in the first paper of this series [Genzel (1999). J. Appl. Cryst. 32 , 770–778], is demonstrated by practical examples. Depending on the statistical scattering of the experimental data, either biaxial or even triaxial residual-stress states may be analysed; the latter case yields self-consistently the depth profiles of the in-plane stresses, σ 11 (τ) and σ 22 (τ), the normal stress component, σ 33 (τ), as well as the strain-free lattice spacing, d 0 ( hkl ). The results obtained by this new evaluation procedure are compared with those obtained by X-ray stress-gradient analysis performed on the basis of the sin 2 ψ method.

High energy synchrotron diffraction is introduced as a new method for residual stress analysis in the bulk of materials. It is shown that energy dispersive measurements are sufficiently precise so that strains as small 10−4 can be determined reliably. Due to the high intensity and the high parallelism of the high energy synchrotron radiation the sample gauge volume can be reduced to approximately 50 μm × 1 mm × 1 mm compared to gauge volume of one mm3 up to several mm3 achievable by neutron diffraction. The benefits of the high penetration depth and the small gauge volume are demonstrated by the results of stress studies performed on a fiber reinforced ceramic, a functional gradient material and a metal–ceramic compound. Furthermore, it is shown that in case of a cold extruded metal specimen the energy dispersive measurement technique yields simultaneous information about texture and residual stresses and thus allows a detailed investigation of elastic and plastic deformation gradients.