Showing papers in "Microelectronics Reliability in 2007"

TL;DR: The general conclusion is that although much is understood about NBTI, several aspects are poorly understood.

TL;DR: By reformulating the Reaction–Diffusion model in a particularly simple form, it is shown that these seven apparently contradictory features of NBTI actually reflect different facets of the same underlying physical mechanism.

TL;DR: This paper presents a comprehensive review of the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) and its applications in biomolecular sensing and characterization of electrochemical interfaces and particular attention is given to the use of the Ion-sensitive transistors as replacements for microarrays in DNA gene expression analysis.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the evolution of microstructure in the interfacial region was studied after thermal aging at 100-150°C for up to 1000-h. They found that the thickness of Cu 3 Sn significantly increased with aging time, but that of Cu 6 Sn 5 changed a little.

TL;DR: Comparing the induced inelastic strains in the solder joint, the leadfree SnAgCu generally scores better thanks to the lower creep strain rate, while for the CSP and flip chip package, SnAg Cu scores worse for the more extreme loading conditions when the inelastically dissipated energy density is selected as damage parameter.

TL;DR: It is considered that re-crystallization has been progressed during the high temperature side of the thermal cycle tests of thick Al wires bonded on chips of power semiconductor devices.

TL;DR: A methodology for monitoring, recording, and analyzing the life-cycle vibration loads for remaining-life prognostics of electronics and verified by the real-time to failure of the components by checking the components’ resistance data.

TL;DR: The discrete event simulation model described in this paper provides the information needed to construct a business case showing the application-specific usefulness for various PHM approaches including health monitoring (HM) and life consumption monitoring (LCM) for electronic systems.

TL;DR: Case studies were conducted using a stochastic model to predict the life cycle cost impact associated with the application of prognostic health management to helicopter avionics, and the optimal safety margins and prognostic distances were determined.

TL;DR: The influence of three different dicing technologies on the mechanical strength of thin silicon samples was investigated by 3-point bending tests to allow a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of the process on strength properties independently of geometric factors.

TL;DR: The engineering of new Ta2O5-based dielectrics as well as of metal/high-k interface in MIM capacitor configuration are identified as critical factors for further reduction of EOT value below 1 nm.

TL;DR: The paper provides constitutive models for SnAg- and SnAgCu-solders in dependence on the type of pad metallization and aging condition and compares the creep behaviour in the as-cast condition of the alloy with that after thermal storage.

TL;DR: Spectral analysis indicated that optical power (OP) loss is strongly related to the decrease of the phosphors-related yellow emission band, and microscopic analysis showed that this effect can be ascribed to the carbonization of the package and phosphorous material.

TL;DR: Failure mechanisms of lead-free solder interconnections in power cycling and thermal shock tests have been investigated and it is found that the failures in both cases were induced by recrystallization-assisted crack nucleation and propagation.

TL;DR: The paper presents ageing tests of 600 V-200 A IGBT modules subjected to power cycling with 60 °C junction temperature swings at 90 °C ambient temperature and numerical investigations are performed to assess the thermal and thermo-mechanical constraints on silicon dies during power cycling.

TL;DR: The electrothermal coupling analysis was employed to investigate the current crowding effect and maximum temperature in the solder bump in order to correlate with the experimental electromigration reliability using the Black’s equation as a reliability model.

TL;DR: The methodology for reliability screening is discussed based on constant voltage stress and voltage ramp stress and it will be shown that both procedures yield equivalent results and the determined reliability parameters are compatible.

TL;DR: This work measured H diffusion through the final silicon nitride layer and compared these results with the material properties and passivation efficiency to show that passivation material plays an important role in the device performance.

TL;DR: The potential of the interface damage mechanics approach for simulating metal peel off is illustrated and the computational aspects to be developed to render a practically applicable approach are highlighted.

TL;DR: This work reports on pentacene based organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with a high-k HfO2gate oxide prepared by two different methods: anodic oxidation and sol-gel, which lead to high mobility and stable devices.

TL;DR: The proposed methodology eliminates the need for knowledge of prior stress histories and enables interrogation of system state using the identified damage pre-cursors, which have correlated with residual life and computational finite-element model predictions.

TL;DR: Using these testing methods, a number of experimental investigations of the fatigue and thermal fatigue of metal films with thicknesses ranging from micrometers to sub-micrometers reveal that typical fatigue extrusions and cracking are quite different from that of bulk materials.

TL;DR: The capabilities of three techniques to measure the transient average junction temperature in power MOS devices based on the electrical thermo-sensitive parameters are assessed experimentally and by compact device simulation.

TL;DR: The defects electrical characteristics that are the activation energy and corresponding depolarization time constant were determined from the evolution of the thermally stimulated current spectra and the transient response of discharge currents at different temperatures.

TL;DR: An eight-month design-of-experiment assessment of whisker growth on bright and matte tin-plated copper, mechanically deformed and unformed coupons, subject to a continuous 50 °C/50%RH environment with and without the presence of a constant electrical current density magnitude.

TL;DR: The Atmospheric Neutron flux, the effects in the main classes of devices and specific cases such as neutron-induced single event upset observed in CMOS vs. CMOS/SOI and some mitigation issues are described.

TL;DR: The ball impact test apparatus, characteristics of measured impact force profiles, and induced failure modes are introduced and the BIT itself stands alone as a unique and novel test methodology in characterizing strengths of solder joints under a high-speed shearing load.

TL;DR: An overview of extensive theoretical results is given that provides a comprehensive picture of the role that hydrogen plays in several radiation-induced degradation modes and BTI and identifies a common origin for several degradation phenomena.

TL;DR: The approach, development, and validation of electronic prognostics for a radiofrequency (RF) system are discussed, and the results of the accelerated failure tests accurately predict the remaining useful life of a COTS GPS receiver to within plusmn5 thermal cycles.