Improving Transistor Reliability


One of the more important challenges in reliability testing and simulation is the duty cycle dependence of degradation mechanisms such as negative bias temperature instability ([getkc id="278" kc_name="NBTI"]) and hot carrier injection (HCI). For example, as previously discussed, both the shift due to NBTI and the recovery of baseline behavior are very dependent on device workload. This is ... » read more

Transistor-Level Verification Returns


A few decades ago, all designers did transistor-level verification, but they were quite happy to say goodbye to it when standard cells provided isolation at the gate-level and libraries provided all of the detailed information required, such as timing. A few dedicated people continued to use the technology to provide those models and libraries and the most aggressive designs that wanted to stri... » read more

Aging: Not Always A Bad Thing


By Ann Steffora Mutschler When IC devices are produced and shipped to end customers, it is important that they will function as specified in the application environment. Determining how a device will operate over time is a key aspect of overall reliability and is commonly referred to as ‘aging.’ Aging of electronics is not a new problem. In fact, analog and automotive designers have bee... » read more

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