That LOOKS like just a poorly cleaned decapsulation job. The stuff you're 
asking about could either be from the overmold material or some deteriorating 
seals in the decapsulator. So my instinct is that it's a "red herring" in your 
failure analysis. This contaminant appears to be EXTREMELY thin, no more than 
5 microns, because there doesn't seem to be a detectable difference in focus 
height between this and adjacent circuitry (unless the image is actually a 
composite of several different pictures at different focus heights).

Wayne Thayer

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Gregory
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2015 12:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Ropy grunge in IC

Hi Julie,

Have your photo up, it's here:

http://stevezeva.homestead.com/3CK_2nd_decap_-_multiview.jpg

Steve

On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 10:21 AM, Julie Silk <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> We had an intermittent failure on a part and after decap, there was a
> rope-like line that seemed to weave in and out of the circuitry.  I'm
> having Steve Gregory post a picture.  I'd like your thoughts on what
> is going on.  We're consulting with the supplier, but I'd like your input.
>

-- 


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