Yield is one of the cornerstones of a successful integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing technology along with product performance and cost. Many factors contribute to the achievement of high yield but also interact with product performance and cost. A fundamental understanding of yield limitations enables the up-front achievement of this technology goal through circuit and layout design, device design, materials choices and process optimization. Defect, failure and yield analyses are critical issues for the improvement of IC yield. In first part of the course, we deal with IC fault models and test issues. Second part describes critical area models and yield models. Third part is dedicated to a local critical area extraction approach. Finally, an application of above-mentioned models and extraction approach in yield forecast is presented.
Electronic systems composed from sensors, embedded processors and memory blocks are everywhere from household appliances via transportation systems to utilities and production plants. Failure of such systems will, in many areas of application, cause human life and huge financial losses. Hence making such systems ”safe” has become a major issue in science and technology. Typically, ”reliability” refers to specific hardware units and their faulty behavior. ”Safety” may include aspects not only of failure, but also of misuse. ”Security” is related to the more or less criminal misuse of electronic systems. ”Dependability” somehow is the top-level term incorporating all such aspects. If applied to hardware, ”dependability” typically includes system extensions that can detect and correct fault and errors. We can assume that a system is highly dependable, if it is fail-safe.
The detailed list of topics includes:
- Defects, Faults, Errors, and Failures,
- Yield Modeling and Analysis,
- Yield Forecast and Control,
- Redundancy and Fault Tolerance
- Error Detection and Correction Codes,
- Built-In-Self-Repair,
- Dependable Processors,
- Error Resilience.
- Dr. Stamenkovic: Dr. Zoran Stamenkovic