Integrated Circuit Reliability Training Course

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SPECIAL: This class is available at your site for an unlimited number of students for $13,999 (3-day full version) or $9,999 (2-day version) or $5,999 (1-day executive version).

We can customize the content, level and length to meet your needs

Integrated Circuit Reliability

Reliability Engineering, Management and Failure Mechanisms

Dr. Ted Dellin

Reliability is a critical concern for the manufacturers and users of products, including integrated circuits (ICs). Developing practical, affordable techniques to ensure reliability has always been challenging. It is even more challenging as problems with scaling require the introduction of new materials, new operating regions and the reduction of reliability margins.

This course is designed to provide relevant information that will enable allow the attendees to more successfully meet current and future reliability challenges. The course focuses on three areas: reliability engineering, reliability physics and reliability management. The reliability management and reliability engineering sections are quite general, and apply to a wide range of products, not just ICs. The reliability physics section focuses on the failure mechanisms of ICs.

The reliability management sections focus on reliability program goals and how to meet them. A critical review is presented of the major approaches to reliability including building-in reliability, designing-in reliability, testing-in reliability, wafer level reliability and science-based reliability (physics of failure). Key strategies for a successful reliability program are presented.

The reliability engineering sections focus on realizing and assuring reliability. The major statistical distributions (exponential, lognormal & Weibull) are considered, including their areas of applicability, reliability plotting and confidence limits. The use of test structures, standard evaluation circuits and real devices is reviewed. Accelerated aging, qualification (knowledge-based vs. stress based) and IC reliability tests, including burn-in, are also considered.

The reliability physics sections focus on the main on-chip and package failure mechanisms of CMOS ICs. The transistor section will deal with time dependent dielectric breakdown (including changes below 5nm), hot carrier effects, and NBTI. The interconnect section will consider electromigration (including Cu vs. Al), stress voiding and failures associated with the interlevel dielectrics (low k dielectrics). Other failure modes including ESD and single event effects will be described. Finally, failure mechanisms associated with packaging will be presented.

The course is suitable for engineers, managers, technicians and salespeople in all aspects of ICs including research, design, processing, test, failure analysis and reliability. No prior knowledge of reliability is assumed. Some familiarity with IC technology might be useful, but not mandatory.

Like all Quick Start Micro Training courses, this seminar presents the most important information in an efficient, easy-to-understand and entertaining manner. Dr. Dellin has over 25 years experience in microelectronics and microsystems. He is the Chief Scientist Emeritus of the Microsystems Center at Sandia and leads the development of the reliability section of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. Dr. Dellin is also a member of Sematech’s Relability Technical Advisory Board. He has 10 years experience in teaching including developing Sandia’s in-house microsystems university, university teaching, 5 tutorials at IRPS and presenting short courses for organizations in the U.S. and Europe. The response of past students to our courses has generally been very favorable.

•Introduction

•Describing Reliability Qualitative (Reliability Definition Bathtub Curve, Yield & Reliability)

•Describing Reliability Quantitative (4 basic reliability functions)

•Goals of a Reliability Program (How reliability adds value; customer requirements)

•Building-in, Designing-in & Physics of Failure (test structures; wafer level reliability)

•Developing Reliability Engineering Program (pros and cons of different options)

•Distributions (Exponential, Weibull, Lognormal)

•Reliability Plotting

•Dealing With Variability (Which distribution? Confidence)

•Accelerated Aging ("true" accelerated aging; acceleration models)

•Reliability Qualification (Stress-based & Knowledge-based)

•Burn-In (Issues with burn-in of advanced technologies)

•Competitive Reliability

•Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (thick & thin oxides)

•Hot Carrier and Negative Bias Temperature Instability

•Interconnect (Al & Cu) and Interlevel Dielectrics (with low k)

•Other Mechanisms (ESD, Single Event Effects, Radiation)

•Packaging Failure Mechanisms and Package Reliability Tests