tag: mechanical stress

Automated Multiphysics For Successful 3D-IC Design
By John Ferguson - 02 Apr, 2026 - Comments: 0

By John Ferguson and Sheltha Nolke For design teams adopting 3D-IC architectures, the relentless pursuit of performance and reliability brings a familiar, yet increasingly complex, set of challenges: how do we manage power, dissipate heat and navigate the intricate dance of physics within these stacked architectures? While 3D-ICs offer significant advantages in size, performance, power effic... » read more

Chiplets And 3D-ICs Add New Electrical And Mechanical Challenges
By Ann Mutschler - 12 Feb, 2026 - Comments: 1

Key Takeaways • Chiplets and 3D-IC architectures add new thermal-mechanical stresses that can affect the reliability of entire systems. • As chiplets are assembled into packages, defectivity targets become more stringent for each component in a system. • Traditional silos are breaking down, forcing design teams to address issues such as materials choices that previously were handled by... » read more

Impact of the Gate and Fin Space Variation on Stress Modulation and FinFET Transistor Performance
By PDF Solutions - 10 Feb, 2026 - Comments: 0

Device scaling in advanced CMOS nodes is becoming more difficult due to patterning limitations and complex 3-D transistor integration schemes. This also makes the devices more sensitive to patterning variability. The presented study investigates the impact of poly pitch and fin pitch variability on stress-induced performance variation in 7nm FinFET transistors. Variations in critical dimension ... » read more

Thermal, Mechanical, And Material Stresses Grow With Die Stacking
By Ann Mutschler - 30 Oct, 2025 - Comments: 0

Managing thermal and mechanical stress in multi-die assemblies will require a detailed knowledge of how and where a device will be used, how it will be packaged, and where stresses could cause problems at any point during its expected lifetime. This includes everything from workload-dependent thermal gradients to mechanical and electrical stress, which may become more pronounced over time wi... » read more

Data Feed Forward And How It Works: Part 2
By Roberto Colecchia - 09 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

As chiplets and advanced packaging redefine semiconductor architecture, managing complexity isn’t just about the silicon—it’s about the data. Modern multi-die packages often contain components from different vendors, integrated in 2.5D or 3D configurations. Each die brings its own risks, and diagnosing issues after assembly is increasingly difficult—especially when data isn’t share... » read more

Navigating Reliability Potholes: Early 3D Stress Analysis For Automotive ICs
By Shetha Nolke - 04 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

The rise of 3D integrated circuits (ICs) and heterogeneous packaging is reshaping how automotive ICs fulfill demanding analog and sensor requirements. Whether for radar, lidar, sensor fusion or domain controllers, advanced packaging enables new levels of integration—and performance—in automotive electronics. Yet, as these architectures grow more complex, they also introduce new forms of mec... » read more

Why 3D NAND Layers Bend (And How To Prevent It)
By Brett Lowe - 21 Aug, 2025 - Comments: 0

3D NAND flash memory is built by vertically stacking multiple alternating layers (tiers) of silicon nitride (SiN) and oxide (TEOS) on top of each other. A major challenge in producing multilayered 3D NAND devices is tier bending and tier collapse. These undesirable conditions can be caused by a combination of factors. Using the virtual Design of Experiment (DOE) capabilities in SEMulator... » read more

Easing The Stress For Package-Level Burn-In
By Laura Peters - 10 Jul, 2025 - Comments: 0

Considered something of a necessary evil, burn-in of IC packages during production does a great job of weeding out latent defects so they don’t turn into failures in the field. But as AI and multi-chiplet packages become more common, and concerns about aging circuitry heighten, shifting stress testing to the wafer level looks increasingly attractive from a quality, throughput, and cost standp... » read more

3D-IC Stress Analysis
By Shetha Nolke - 08 Jul, 2025 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry is undergoing a transformation as 3D integrated circuits (ICs) and heterogeneous packaging become mainstream. With these advances comes the promise of higher functional density, a smaller footprint and enhanced system performance. However, these same innovations introduce new mechanical stressors within complex assemblies, posing novel reliability risks across the dev... » read more

Examining Mechanical Deformation In Advanced Logic Devices To Enhance Yield
By Sandy Wen - 19 Jun, 2025 - Comments: 0

By Sandy Wen and Jacky Huang As dimensions shrink and aspect ratios increase in advanced logic devices, it is increasingly important to reduce structural device variation. Structural device variations can be a proxy for device yield. These variations might include critical dimension (CD), gate CD, gate height, and proximity between neighboring vias. One contributor to structural device v... » read more

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