The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
We propose a new reliability evaluation technology by using “Pulse-Photoconductivity Method” to measure the electrical and dielectrical properties of the insulator sample directly and non-destructively. We evaluate the electrical characteristics of SiO2 and HfO2 film by measuring the transient phenomenon of photoconductive signals and indicate the electrical leakage current vs the contaminated level...
Process scaling is well know to increase overall chip-level soft error rates (SER) if no additional mitigation techniques are applied [Seifert04]. The purpose of this study is to summarize recent investigations conducted by the author to characterize the SER benefits and limitations of one particular SER mitigation technique: radiation hardened sequentials that utilize local redundancy. The studied...
This paper reviews recent experimental confirmations that the intrinsic radiation robustness of commercial CMOS technologies naturally improves with the down-scaling. When additionally using innovative design techniques, it becomes now possible to assure that performance and radiation-hardness are both met. An illustration is given with an original nano-power and radiation-hardened 8 Mb SRAM designed...
A non-classical device structure namely self-aligned quasi-silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistor with pi-shaped semiconductor conductive layer (SA-piFET) is presented, seeking to improve the performance and upgrade the reliability of the SOI-based devices. Designed to equip with a SA single crystal silicon channel layer, plus a natural source/drain (S/D)...
Polarities of plasma charging damage in n- and p-channel MOSFETs with Hf-based high-k gate stack (HfAlOx/SiO2) were studied for two different plasma sources (Ar-and Cl-based gas mixtures), and found to depend on plasma conditions, in contrast to those with conventional SiO2. For Ar-plasma, which was confirmed to induce a larger charging damage, both n- and p-ch MOSFETs with high-k gate stacks suffer...
Continuous scaling, necessary for enhanced performance and cost reduction, has pushed existing CMOS materials much closer to their intrinsic reliability limits, forcing reliability engineers to get a better understanding of circuit failure. This requires that designers will have to be very careful with phenomena such as high current densities or voltage overshoots. In addition to the reliability issues,...
Transconductance (gm) enhancement in n-type and p-type nanowire field-effect-transistors (nwFETs) is demonstrated by introducing controlled tensile strain into channel regions by pattern dependant oxidation (PADOX). Values of gm are enhanced relative to control devices by a factor of 1.5 in p-nwFETs and 3.0 in n-nwFETs. Strain distributions calculated by a three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulation...
Single, high energy, high LET, ions impacting on a Floating gate array at grazing or near-grazing angles lead to the creation of long traces of FGs with corrupted information. Every time a FG is crossed by a single ion, it experiences a charge loss which permanently degrades the stored information. If the ion crosses more than one FG, the threshold voltage of all those FGs interested by its track...
This paper describes a methodology for building a reliable internet core router that considers the vulnerability of its electronic components to single event upset (SEU). It begins with a set of meaningful system level metrics that can be related to product reliability requirements. A specification is then defined that can be effectively used during the system architecture, silicon and software design...
Design and characterization of a new generation of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) array, manufactured by ST-Microelectronics in Catania, Italy, are presented. Device performances, investigated in several experimental conditions and here reported, demonstrate their suitability in many applications. SPADs are thin p-n junctions operating above the breakdown condition in Geiger mode at low voltage...
In deep submicron era, to prevent larger amount of SRAM from more frequently encountered overheating problems and react accordingly for each possible hotspots, multiple ideal run-time temperature sensors must be closely located and response rapidly to secure system reliability while maintaining core frequency. This paper presented a method to extract run-time temperature information from multiple...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.