STMicroelectronics

About: STMicroelectronics is a company organization based out in Geneva, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Signal & Transistor. The organization has 17172 authors who have published 29543 publications receiving 300766 citations. The organization is also known as: SGS-Thomson & STM.

Local interconnect for integrated circuits

Abstract: Local interconnect is defined in a polycrystalline silicon layer. Openings to underlying conducting regions are made through an insulating layer after the local interconnect conductor definition. A thin extra polycrystalline silicon layer is then deposited over the device and etched back to form polycrystalline silicon sidewall elements. These sidewalls connect the polycrystalline silicon local interconnect conductors to the underlying conductive regions. Standard silicidation techniques are then used to form a refractory metal silicide on the exposed underlying conductive regions, the polycrystalline silicon sidewall elements, and the polycrystalline silicon local interconnect conductors. This results in a complete silicided connection between features connected by the local interconnect conductors.

A Heterogeneous Digital Signal Processor for Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing

Abstract: This paper describes a System on Chip implementation of a reconfigurable digital signal processor. The device is suitable for execution of a wide range of applications exploiting a balanced mix of heterogeneous reconfigurable fabrics merged together by a flexible and efficient communication infrastructure based on a 64-bit Network On Chip. The SoC combines a fine grain embedded FPGA, a mid grain configurable processor and a coarse grain reconfigurable array. An ARM processor featuring a resident operating system is the SoC supervisor, managing communication, synchronization and reconfiguration mechanisms. This computational model enables the programmer to manage the high level synchronization and global data of complex signal processing applications through the ARM processor, while allocating most critical computational kernels to the most suitable reconfigurable engines. The SoC has been fabricated in 90-nm technology, the die area being 110 mm2; it integrates 97 million transistors and has a peak power consumption of 2.5 W. In order to demonstrate the proposed computational model and the reconfigurable signal processor capabilities in a real test case, a video surveillance motion detection application was implemented in the SoC. When running this application, the device proved able to deliver 120 GOPS dissipating 1.45 W.

Micro-electromechanical structure insensitive to mechanical stresses.

Abstract: A microelectromechanical structure includes a rotor element having a barycentric axis and suspended regions arranged a distance with respect to the barycentric axis. The rotor element is supported and biased via a suspension structure having a single anchoring portion extending along the barycentric axis. The single anchoring portion is integral with a body of semiconductor material on which electric connections are formed.

Motion play-back of still pictures comprising a panoramic view for simulating perspective

Abstract: A system for play-back of a still image comprising an image generator for generating a panoramic image by stitching together a plurality of images; memory space allocated for storing the panaoramic image generated by the image generator; and motion playback device (MPB) coupled to the memory space by address and data lines The MPB comprises an input for receiving parameters for generating addresses to read the image for simulating the panning motion is a video camera scanning the image represented by the panoramic image along at least a first direction In an alternate embodiment, a method and computer readable medium corresponding to the above system is described

Thermal instability of low voltage power-MOSFETs

Abstract: This paper analyzes an anomalous failure mechanism detected on last generation low voltage power metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices at low drain current. Such a behavior, apparently due to a kind of second breakdown phenomenon, has been scarcely considered in literature, as well as in manufacturer data sheets, although extensive experimental tests show that it is a common feature of modern low voltage metal oxide semiconductor held effect transistor (MOSFET) devices. The paper starts by analyzing some failures, systematically observed on low voltage power MOSFET devices, inside the theoretical forward biased safe operating area. Such failures are then related to an unexpected thermal instability of the considered devices. Experimental tests have shown that in the considered devices the temperature coefficient is positive for a very wide drain current range, also including the maximum value. Such a feature causes hot spot phenomena in the devices, as confirmed by microscope inspection of the failed devices. Finally, it is theoretically demonstrated that the thermal instability is a side effect of the progressive die size and process scaling down. As a result, latest power MOSFETs, albeit more efficient and compact, are less robust than older devices at low drain currents, thus requiring specific circuit design techniques.