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Two orders of magnitude improvement in the reliability of plastic packages has been achieved as the result of a systematic study of basic failure mechanisms and the development of improved materials, handling procedures and process controls. This improved integrated-circuit packaging system has resulted in plastic-encapsulated product capable of matching the reliability of hermetic packages under...
It has been found that a tri-layer metal contact system, consisting of platinum silicide-titanium-platinum-gold, is at least a factor of five better than a comparable aluminum metalized device with respect to humidity. However, all gold metalized devices are not necessarily this good; an example is given. To evaluate bond integrity, a liquid-to-liquid thermal shock is used followed by a high temperature...
Degradation modes and mechanisms of III-V compound LED'S with epoxy lenses have been investigated. Degradation of epoxy lenses was first examined under various conditions. Degradation of light transmission characteristics, which plays an important role in the degradation of LED'S, was expressed as functions of temperature, wavelength and time. Degradation of diodes was next examined. Degradation of...
Electron Bombarded Semiconductor or EBS Power Devices have presented some unique reliability problems to the developers. Recently many of the design difficulties have been overcome and devices have now demonstrated over 3000 hours of operation. This paper briefly discusses some of the reliability improvements and describes the development of reliable, radiation resistant semiconductor targets.
This paper is intended to give some guidance for a workshop session on surface inversion. It first highlights the key causes of surface inversion, such as electronic and ionic charges, surface and bulk contamination, and leakage mechanisms. Second, the paper describes a number of widely used failure analysis techniques which permit the study of surface inversion and accumulation in MOS and bipolar...
A noncontact procedure for sensing continuity and isolation faults in large, dense interconnection patterns by means of selective deposition of charge by an electron beam is Proposed and discussed. When the accelerating potential is properly chosen, a marked variation in the secondary electron signal occurs during the charging of an electrically floating element to an equilibrium potential. This phenomenon...
Dynamic heating effects in IMPATT diodes were studied for pulse applications, comparing. the thermal characteristics of various commercial device construction techniques. The study considered temperature distribution effects resulting from nonuniform heat flow and power dissipation due to both perfect and imperfect die mounting. A testing technique is proposed which can accurately measure the average...
Electrons can flow from the field plate of a silicon gate MOS, through the gate oxide, to the contacts or the channel, if the field plate is brought into avalanche. This leads to shifts in the transistor threshold voltage, and premature discharge of floating nodes. The characteristics of p-type polycrystalline silicon films in MOS avalanche have been examined. Avalanche injected electron currents...
The basic operation, advantages, and limitations of the Auger electron spectroscopy technique are discussed. Applications include simultaneous surface analysis and ion sputtering to produce a compositional-depth profile. This technique is used to study the soldering problem caused by diffusion of impurities to the surface during high temperature treatments. In analyzing wire bond problems, the elemental...
Reflow-Soldering technology provides a low lost, high yield interconnection scheme for packaging monolithic integerated circuits. This paper gives the reliability data on such a package, test procedures used, and discusses some of the factors which influence the reliability of the package.
A rapid process control stress test is described, for use in evaluating the susceptibility of MOS circuits-to lateral charge spreading and subsequent channel formation. Measurements of the temperature, time, and stress voltage dependence of the induced channel conductance are described, and these lead to the specification of the standardized stress conditions for the test procedure. The observed temperature...
The response of aluminum thin films to single shot, constant current pulses was investigated to seek a ZAP test method for screening out inadequate metal coverage. At current density J, constant cross section stripes melt and open in time durations, tm and to respectively, which obey adiabatic heating laws J2tm - Km and J2to = Ko if heating time is sufficiently brief to minimize heat loss to the substrate...
The direct imposition of compressive mechanical stress during forward bias aging has been found to accelerate the degradation rate of diffused GaAs electroluminescent diodes by over an order of magnitude. The accelerated degradation occurs precipitously with increasing mechanical stress beyond the nominal threshold level of ~2?108 dyn/cm2, and is associated primarily with an increase in the initial...
Improper coverage of surface topography can lead to a variety of reliability and yield problems in electron devices. The nature of coverage defects and failure mechanisms is discussed, and techniques for improving the reliability by chemical tapering processes and/or optimized film deposition methods are reviewed and classified. Specific examples of experimental conditions are given for obtaining...