IC Reliability, Yield, Failure Analysis, and Fault Isolation

We recommend you to submit your preliminary or firm registration at least 4 weeks before course start to ensure a seat on the course.

(Previously this course was called Yield and Reliability in VLSI Development and Manufacturing)

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Reliability, failure analysis and yield are three of the cornerstones of a successful IC manufacturing technology along with product performance and cost. Many factors contribute to the achievement of high yield and reliability, and many of these also interact with product performance and cost.
A fundamental understanding of failure mechanisms and yield limitations enables the up-front achievement of these technology goals through circuit and layout design, device design, materials choices, process optimization, and thermo-mechanical considerations. Failure isolation and analysis, defect analysis, low yield analysis, and materials analysis are critical methodologies for the improvement of yield and reliability. Coordination of people in many disciplines is needed in order to achieve high yield and reliability. Each needs to understand the impact of their choices and methods on the final product. Unfortunately, very little formal university training exists in these critical areas of IC reliability, yield, and failure analysis.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This course will be of strong interest to engineers working in semiconductor R&D and manufacturing, equipment service, and also procurement of product from foundries. It will be relevant both for companies producing integrated circuits themselves and for those involved as partners in the "fabless/foundry" model.

Monday - JOSÉ MAIZ
Reliability Fundamentals and Scaling Principles

• The Reliability Bathtub Curve, Its Origin and Implications
• Key Reliability Functions and Their Use in Reliability Analysis
• Defect Screening Techniques and Their Effectiveness
• Accelerated Testing and Estimation of Useful Operating Life
• Reliability Data Collection and Analysis in Integrated Circuits
• Past Technology Scaling Trends
• Forward Looking Projections with a Focus on Examining and Understanding of the Impact on VLSI Reliability
• Power Density Trends: Operating temperature, activation energies for dominant vlsi failure mechanisms, and reliability impact
• Reliability Strategies In Fabless Environments

Reliability of the Interconnect System

• Physics and Statistics of Failure Mechanisms Associated with Interconnect Systems
• Electro-migration of Al and Cu Interconnects
• Mechanical Stress Driven Metal Voiding and Cracking
• Low k Materials as Interlayer Dielectrics and Their Impact on Electro-migration
• Thermo-mechanical Integrity of the Interconnect System
• Key Technology Parameters: Materials choices, structural and geometric effects
• Extreme Scaling Impact on Wear-out Time
• Technology Solutions: Alloys, metal barriers, and engineering of interfaces
• Improved Electro-migration Performance under Non-DC Currents and Short Lines
• Interconnect Reliability Strategies in Fabless Environments

Tuesday - JOSÉ MAIZ
Transistor Reliability: Dielectric Breakdown, Hot Carriers and Parametric Stability

• Physics, Statistics, and Scaling Impact on Failure Mechanisms
• Reliability Performance of Thin Conventional Oxides: Defects, wear-out failures
• Hot Carrier Performance and Parametric Stability of P- and N-channel Devices under DC and AC
• High k Gate Dielectrics and Novel Transistor Configurations
• Key Failure Mechanisms for Bipolar Transistors
• Transistor Reliability Strategies in Fabless Environments

CMOS Latch-up and ESD

• Physics, Scaling Impact, and Technology Dependence of CMOS Latch-up and Electrostatic Damage (ESD)
• Technology and Design Based Solutions, Device Performance, and Manufacturability Constraints
• Latch-up and ESD Assessment in Fabless Environments

Soft Errors, and Other Failure Mechanisms

• Physics, Scaling Impact, and Technology Dependence of Alpha Particle and Cosmic Ray Induced Soft Errors
• Technology Solutions, Performance, and Manufacturability

Wednesday - CHRISTOPHER McDONALD
Yield Elements

• The Importance of Yields to the Financial Success of a Semiconductor Manufacturer
• Data of Typical Yields Obtained in the Industry for Different Product Generations
• The Concept of Yield Modeling, Showing Defects and Other Mechanisms Affecting Yields
• Process and Equipment Defect Details: Lithography, oxidation, thin film deposition, etching, and wafer cleaning
• Other Defect Sources: Clean-room materials and environment
• Yield Issues: Electrical parameter distributions and physical device structures
• Practical Examples: How Yields are Impacted by Various Types of Phenomena

Yield Management and Improvement

• Attributes Possessed by "High Yield" Wafer Fabrication Lines
• In-line Measurement Techniques for Process Control and Improvement: Particle detection and loop structures
• Examples: Successfully Applied Techniques to Improve Yields
• Control
• Software Techniques for Detecting Significant Patterns in Yield Data
• Yield Impacting Factors: How continuous improvements can be made
• Special Topics of Interest

Process Control and Troubleshooting

• Statistical Process Control (SPC)
• Advanced Process Control (APC)
• Defect Control
• Pit falls and human factors in a successful SPC implementation

Thursday - DAVID VALLETT
Introduction to Semiconductor Failure Analysis

• The role of Failure Analysis in Semiconductor Technology Development and Manufacturing
• Differing Failure Analysis strategies for Technology Development, Yield Analysis, Reliability Engineering
• Client Support and Failure Analysis of Field Returns
• Analytical approaches for Package, Wafer, and Die Level failures

IC Failure Modes and Defects

• Electrical failure modes of logic, SRAM, DRAM, and analog/mixed signal devices
• Defect mechanisms in ICs and IC packages
• Defects in Design, Processing, and Lithography
• Failures due to Process/product interactions
• Test-induced defects
  
  

Friday - DAVID VALLETT
Fault Isolation and Failure Analysis Techniques

• Physical Fault Isolation Techniques: Electron, ion, and laser scanning microscopy; photon emission, thermal and magnetic imaging; scanning probe microscopy
• Electrical Characterization: Micro- and nano-probing
• Chemical, Mechanical, and Ion Beam Deprocessing
• Optical, acoustic, scanned probe, electron, and X-ray microscopy/tomography
• Materials Analysis Overview
• Particle Beam Interactions in Solids
• Bulk Composition Analysis: Energy and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy
• Principles of Electron, Ion, and X-ray Techniques: TEM, AES, SIMS, XPS, and TXRF
• Sensitivity and Resolution Comparisons
• Technique Selection Factors

Practical Applications and Future Challenges

• Case-histories and Examples: Time-resolved photon emission movies of operating devices; nanoscale 3D X-ray tomography virtual sections; defects; fault isolation results, etc.
• Planning for Analysis to Maximize Effectiveness
• Scaling and Material Challenges in Analytical Science
• Planning for Analysis to Maximize Effectiveness
• Scaling and Material Challenges in Analytical Science

Said about the course from previous participants:
"The energy and enthusiasm of the lecturers - all of which, I suspect, put a lot of effort into keeping their courses fresh. Course was very comprehensive with stress being placed on the relevant topics, sufficient to obtain a very good overview from reliability right through."
"Open discussions, discussions about problems of my colleagues, meeting colleagues from other companies (networking), teachers giving examples from their work."
"Variety of topics, good explanation skills of the Instructors, huge experience of Instructors."
"Teachers did know their areas!"
"Well-organized, approachable presentation, supply of dense information, openness for questions and discussion, platform for exchange with professionals in related functions."