tag: electromigration

Electromigration Concerns Grow In Advanced Packages
By Laura Peters - 18 Apr, 2024 - Comments: 0

The incessant demand for more speed in chips requires forcing more energy through ever-smaller devices, increasing current density and threatening long-term chip reliability. While this problem is well understood, it's becoming more difficult to contain in leading-edge designs. Of particular concern is electromigration, which is becoming more troublesome in advanced packages with multiple ch... » read more

Using AI/ML To Minimize IR Drop
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Apr, 2024 - Comments: 1

IR drop is becoming a much bigger problem as technology nodes scale and more components are packed into advanced packages. This is partly a result of physics, but it's also the result of how the design flow is structured. In most cases, AI/ML can help. The underlying problem is that moving to advanced process nodes, and now 3D-ICs, is driving current densities higher, while the power envelop... » read more

Backside Power Delivery Adds New Thermal Concerns
By Karen Heyman - 14 Mar, 2024 - Comments: 0

As the semiconductor industry gears up for backside power delivery at the 2nm node, implementation of the technology requires a re-thinking of established design practices. While some EDA tools are already qualified, designers must acquaint themselves with new issues, including making place-and-route more thermal-aware and how to manage heat dissipation with less shielding and thinner substr... » read more

Electromigration Performance Of Fine-Line Cu Redistribution Layer (RDL) For HDFO Packaging
By JiHye Kwon - 18 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

The downsizing trend of devices gives rise to continuous demands of increasing input/output (I/O) and circuit density, and these needs encourage the development of a High-Density Fan-Out (HDFO) package with fine copper (Cu) redistribution layer (RDL). For mobile and networking application with high performance, HDFO is an emerging solution because aggressive design rules can be applied to HDFO ... » read more

3D-ICs May Be The Least-Cost Option
By Brian Bailey - 30 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 1

When 2.5D and 3D packaging were first conceived, the general consensus was that only the largest semiconductor houses would be able to afford them, but development costs are quickly coming under control. In some cases, these advanced packages actually may turn out to be the lowest-cost options. With stacked die [1], each die is considered to be a complete functional block or sub-system. In t... » read more

Help, 3D-IC Is Stuck In A Country Song
By John Ferguson - 30 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 0

Every time I focus on three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuit (IC) design, I start hearing the Luke Bryan song “Rain Makes Corn, Corn Makes Whiskey.” Not because I need a strong drink to work with 3D-IC designs, but because there is a similar, although slightly more complicated, series of cause and effect issues that impact 3D-ICs. Pushing electrons through very thin metal wires and switc... » read more

Reliability On The Rise In IC Design
By Andre Lange - 14 Sep, 2023 - Comments: 0

Reliability has been an important factor in the semiconductor industry for decades. A closer look reveals three main priorities: In the area of technology development and optimization, the microscopic mechanisms that lead to degradation must be identified and understood before they can be fixed. Microanalytical methods are used here as well as TCAD simulations. If it’s not possible to... » read more

Mitigating Electromigration In Chip Design
By Akanksha Soni - 20 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

From smartphones to laptops, we use a variety of devices every day that rely on integrated circuits (ICs), or chips, to function. These chips are made up of thousands of transistors and interconnects, which transmit electrical signals from one part of the chip to another. But as demand for speed and complexity forces more energy through ever-smaller devices, this concentrated current flow can t... » read more

3D-IC Reliability Degrades With Increasing Temperature
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

The reliability of 3D-IC designs is dependent upon the ability of engineering teams to control heat, which can significantly degrade performance and accelerate circuit aging. While heat has been problematic in semiconductor design since at least 28nm, it is much more challenging to deal with inside a 3D package, where electromigration can spread to multiple chips on multiple levels. “Be... » read more

IC Stresses Affect Reliability At Advanced Nodes
By Ann Mutschler - 08 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 1

Thermal-induced stress is now one of the leading causes of transistor failures, and it is becoming a top focus for chipmakers as more and different kinds of chips and materials are packaged together for safety- and mission-critical applications. The causes of stress are numerous. In heterogeneous packages, it can stem from multiple components composed of different materials. “These materia... » read more

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