# Presentation: 421496

## Slide 1

## Introduction 
Industry Challenges
Technology Trends 
Reliability Challenges
Relationship to Fault Tolerance
Summary and Conclusions

- Industry Challenges
- Technology Trends
- Reliability Challenges
- Relationship to Fault Tolerance
- Summary and Conclusions

- Outline

## Introduction 

- We are Witnesses to an Era of Unprecedented Advancements in Technology
- Today’s Electronic System Applications Require the Use of Highly Advanced Electronic Components in Critical Applications
- Devices from Simple Transistors to Complex “System-on-a-Chip” Are Applied Throughout the System
- The Demand for High Volume and Performance is Driving Today’s Technology into a Much Faster Pace of Development.

## Industry Challenges

**Technical Challenges**
- Smaller Feature Sizes and Miniaturization
- Low Power Devices and Designs
- Thermal Dissipation
- New Materials and Processes
- Device Complexity
**Environmental Challenges**
- Operation at Extreme Environments
- Reduction in Mass and Volume
**Economic Challenges**
- Keeping Up with the Jones’s
- Assuring Sustainable Growth

**Minimum Number of**
**Wafer Starts per Month**

## Super-Semiconductor-Industry

- Super-Semiconductor-Industry

- No Building Too Tall
- No Challenge Too Difficult

## System Miniaturization

## Technology TrendsTechnology Miniaturization 

**0.10μm**

**1.0μm**

- Yesterday

- Today

## Technology Trends Performance Improvements

- Technology Trends Performance Improvements

- Utilization of Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) Technology Provides for Improved Performance and a Reduction in Soft Error Rates
- For the Near Term, SOI Will Also Meet the Performance Demands As Predicted by Moore’s Law.
- The Low Power Characteristics of SOI have a Tremendous Impact on the Applicability to Portable and Wireless Systems

## Technology trendsUnprecedented Advancements

- Technology trendsUnprecedented Advancements

- Continued Shrinkage of Feature Size
- Higher Packing Density
- Improved Performance
- Faster Circuits
- Lower Power Dissipation
- Dramatic Reduction in Cost Per Function

## Technology TrendsMinimum Feature Size

**350**

**70**

**Minimum Feature Size Technology in production (nm)**

***1994 SIA Roadmap Prediction***

***1997 SIA Roadmap Prediction***

**250**

**180**

**130**

**100**

**250**

**180**

**150**

**130**

**100**

**70**

**Year**

**50**

**70**

**110**

**130**

**150**

**180**

***1999 SIA Roadmap Prediction***

## Technology TrendsPace of Technology Evolution

- Technology TrendsPace of Technology Evolution

**Multiple problems with no known solutions**

**2 years per generation**
**Yield & reliability flat**

**3 years per generation **
**Yield & reliability improving**

**Clusters of changes**
** ****< 2 years per generation **
**Technology Breakthroughs**
**Generations that are not fully characterized**
**Widening gap between manufacturing technology and reliability & F.A. tools**

***Feature Size: 0.10*********

***Feature Size: 0.25*********

***Stable Scaling***

***Initial Change***

***Period of Rapid Change***

***Into the Unknown***

***1990***

***1994***

***1996***

***2006***

***2010***

*1992*

*1998*

*2000*

*2002*

*2004*

*2008*

## Reliability Challenges

**RELIABILITY**

***Scaling***

***Design***

***Processing***

***Test***

**New Materials**

***Costs***

***Specifications***

- Reliability Dependencies and Impact to Cost

***Lifetime***

## Reliability ChallengesIssues in Silicon

- Reliability ChallengesIssues in Silicon

_*Gate Electrode*_
*Band bending*
*B penetration (p channel)*

- _Ultra-thin Gate Insulator_
- Direct tunneling gate currents
- Surface defects
- Stress induced leakage currents

*Sub-threshold leakage*
*Punch through*

*Drain induced barrier lowering*
*V**th** control*

- _Ultra-Shallow Junctions_
- Resistive contacts
- Junction spiking

## Surface Defects

**B**

**A**

**D**

**C**

**E**

**Metal**

- Reliability Challenges

-  Surface Defects have become a Very Critical Discriminator of Yield
- Detrimental Particle Size has Shrunk in response to Reduction of Feature Size

- Definite Cause of Failure

- Possible Reliability Failure

- No Test or Reliability Failure

## Reliability ChallengesCopper Interconnect

- Cu has Lower Resistivity than Al
- 1.7 **** **** -cm Compared to 3.1 **** **** -cm
- Replacing Al With Cu Can  Reduce the RC Time Constant Associated With Interconnect Resulting in:
- Faster Circuits
- Improved Packing Density
- Require the Utilization of a Barrier to Prevent Cu Diffusion
*Current Cu Technology only meets Roadmap goals for a few generations!*

## Reliability Challenges Copper Advantage

***M. Bohr, 1995 IEDM***

- Challenge:
- Establish Effective Reliability Determination Methods

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

- Atmospheric Neutrons Cause Measurable Effects on the Ground

- This is a Serious Concern for a Number of Terrestrial Applications

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

-  Only a Fraction of the Alpha particle Energy is Collected

-  Collected Charge is not Highly Sensitive to Junction Area

## Relationship to Fault Tolerance

- Threshold LET is 1-2 MeV-cm2/mg

- Multiple Bit Upsets Observed at Higher LET

## Other Challenges 

- Design
- Growth in Complexity
- Test
- Increase in Chip Speed > Increase in Tester Timing Accuracy
- Lithography
- Affordable Alternative to Traditional Optical Lithography
- Modeling and Simulation
- Introduction of New Models to Keep Pace with Technology
- Defect Reduction
- Modeling and Characterizing of Defects
- Process Integration & Device Structures
- Integration of Analog and Memory with Logic

## Summary 

- Customer Expectations Continue to Drive Technology Advancements in the Semiconductor Industry at an Unprecedented Pace
- Today’s Reliability Tools and Practices Are Inadequate to Address the Needs of Future Technologies
- The Effect of New Device Structures and Processes on Fault Tolerance Must Be Understood In Order to Provide Reliable Operation of Critical Systems
- In-Depth Understanding of the Advancements in Device Technology and Related Reliability Issues is Critical to Realizing a Reliable System.