Approach to the clustering modeling for the strong correlative control measurements for estimation of percent of the suitable integrated circuits in the semiconductor industry

Author(s):  
Ivan A. Ershov ◽  
Oleg Stukach
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 3665-3670

For decades, digital systems have been designed based on assumptions that the underlying hardware, though not perfectly reliable, is free of malicious elements. The demand for IC’s is greatly increasing due to tremendous technological development. Without appropriate resources the companies are hard pressed to produce trusted IC’s. This is driving the companies into the ‘fabless’ trend predominant in semiconductor industry, where the companies are depending on cheaper foundries for the IC fabrication instead of depending on their own resources. This growth brings with it a big rise in threat level in terms of Hardware Trojans that hits the manufacturing companies which make use of Integrated Circuits. This transcends many industries, including strategic organizations and telecommunication companies, mobile phones and computers, embedded systems used in domestic applications and health care equipment. These adversarial inclusions are generally triggered to do malicious modifications in the end user system by the intruder, which is difficult to detect in their quiescent state. This paper focuses on understanding Hardware Trojans, their implications and detection methodologies. It is extremely important for all industries and more so for defense organizations, who are involved in developing systems to protect the nation’s boundaries.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (HiTEN) ◽  
pp. 000123-000128
Author(s):  
Erick M. Spory

There is an ever-increasing demand for electronics in higher temperature applications, both in variety and volume. In many cases, the actual integrated circuit within the plastic packaging can support operation at higher temperatures, although the packaging and connectivity is unable to do so. Ultimately, there still remains a significant gap in the volume demand required for high temperature integrated circuit lines to justify support of more expensive ceramic solutions by the original component manufacturer vs. the cheaper, high-volume PEM flows. Global Circuit Innovations, Inc. has developed a manufacturable, cost-effective solution to extract the integrated circuit from any plastic encapsulated device and subsequently re-package that device into an identical ceramic footprint, with the ability to maintain high-integrity connectivity to the device and enabling functionality for 1000's of hours at temperatures at 250C and beyond. This process represents a high-value added solution to provide high-temperature integrated circuits for a large spectrum of requirements: low-volume, quick-turn evaluation of integrated circuit prototyping, as well as medium to high-volume production needs for ongoing production needs. Although both die extraction and integrated circuit pad electroless nickel/gold plating have both been performed successfully for many years in the semiconductor industry, Global Circuit Innovations, Inc. has been able to combine the two in a reliable, volume manufacturing flow to satisfy many of the stringent requirements for high-temperature applications.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (1) ◽  
pp. 000787-000792
Author(s):  
E. Misra ◽  
T. Wassick ◽  
I. Melville ◽  
K. Tunga ◽  
D. Questad ◽  
...  

The introduction of low-k & ultra-low-k dielectrics, lead-free (Pb-free) solder interconnects or C4's, and organic flip-chip laminates for integrated circuits have led to some major reliability challenges for the semiconductor industry. These include C4 electromigration (EM) and mechanical failures induced with-in the Si chip due to chip-package interactions (CPI). In 32nm technology, certain novel design changes were evaluated in the last Cu wiring level and the Far Back End of Line levels (FBEOL) to strategically re-distribute the current more uniformly through the Pb-free C4 bumps and therefore improve the C4 EM capabilities of the technology. FBEOL process integration changes, such as increasing the thickness of the hard dielectric (SiNx & SiOx) and reducing the final via diameter, were also evaluated for reducing the mechanical stresses in the weaker BEOL levels and mitigating potential risks for mechanical failures within the Si chip. The supporting white-bump, C4 EM and electrical/mechanical modeling data that demonstrates the benefits of the design and integration changes will be discussed in detail in the paper. Some of the key processing and integration challenges observed due to the design and process updates and the corresponding mitigation steps taken will also be discussed.


1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 469-470
Author(s):  
J.L. Drown ◽  
S.M. Merchant ◽  
M.E. Gross ◽  
D. Eaglesham ◽  
L.A. Giannuzzi ◽  
...  

Titanium nitride (TiN) films are used as anti-reflection coatings (ARC) on aluminum (Al) films to facilitate lithography processes during multilevel metallization for the manufacture of integrated circuits on silicon-based (Si) semiconductor devices. It is generally accepted in the literature that the microstructure of multilevel metal stacks is influenced by the texture of the substrate. For the case of interconnect materials used in the semiconductor industry, a typical metal stack is as follows: Titanium/Titanium Nitride/Al-alloy/ARC-Titanium Nitride. The Ti/TiN layer underneath the Al-alloy film is used as a barrier stack to prevent junction spiking. The Ti/TiN underlayer also determines the growth conditions (crystallography and orientation relationships) of the subsequent Al-alloy film.This study focuses on the microstructural characterization of the ARC-TiN layer on Si-oxide and Ti/TiN/Al-alloy substrates that are fabricated under similar conditions using conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD - sputtering) techniques. The ARC-TiN microstructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a Philips EM430 operating at 300 kV.


Author(s):  
C. Michael Garner

Because the transistor was fabricated in volume, lithography has enabled the increase in density of devices and integrated circuits. With the invention of the integrated circuit, lithography enabled the integration of higher densities of field-effect transistors through evolutionary applications of optical lithography. In 1994, the semiconductor industry determined that continuing the increase in density transistors was increasingly difficult and required coordinated development of lithography and process capabilities. It established the US National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors and this was expanded in 1999 to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors to align multiple industries to provide the complex capabilities to continue increasing the density of integrated circuits to nanometre scales. Since the 1960s, lithography has become increasingly complex with the evolution from contact printers, to steppers, pattern reduction technology at i-line, 248 nm and 193 nm wavelengths, which required dramatic improvements of mask-making technology, photolithography printing and alignment capabilities and photoresist capabilities. At the same time, pattern transfer has evolved from wet etching of features, to plasma etch and more complex etching capabilities to fabricate features that are currently 32 nm in high-volume production. To continue increasing the density of devices and interconnects, new pattern transfer technologies will be needed with options for the future including extreme ultraviolet lithography, imprint technology and directed self-assembly. While complementary metal oxide semiconductors will continue to be extended for many years, these advanced pattern transfer technologies may enable development of novel memory and logic technologies based on different physical phenomena in the future to enhance and extend information processing.


1991 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Ghate

ABSTRACTThe reliability of silicon integrated circuits (ICs) has improved significantly in the last decade. The complexity of ICs continues to increase. The semiconductor industry is actively working to a) improve the reliability of very large scale (VLSI) ICs, and b) reduce the failure rates to a value closer to 0.1 FIT by the year 2000. This paper summarizes the current status of quality and reliability of ICs. Some of the reliability limiting factors are described. Inadequacy of conventional accelerated test methods to verify the reliability of VLSI devices is highlighted. A challenging VLSI reliability goal with a failure rate approaching 0.1 FIT requires a) an understanding of the root causes of failure mechanisms, b) a translation of the lessons learned into a set of design rules for the circuit designers, c) appropriate materials and process specifications consistent with manufacturing capabilities, and d) in-process reliability test structures and test procedures. A VLSI failure rate goal of 0.1 FIT presents an exciting challenge for the materials scientists.


2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Nawrocki ◽  
Yury M. Shukrinov

Abstract In this paper we discuss some physical limits for scaling of transistors and conducting paths inside of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs). Since 40 years only a semiconductor technology, mostly the CMOS and the TTL technologies, are used for fabrication of integrated circuits on an industrial scale. Miniaturization of electronic devices in integrated circuits has technological limits and physical limits as well. In 2010 best parameters of commercial ICs shown the Intel Core i5-670 processor manufactured in the technology of 32 nm. Its clock frequency in turbo mode is 3.73 GHz. A forecast of the development of the semiconductor industry (ITRS 2011) predicts that sizes of electronic devices in ICs circuits will be smaller than 10 nm in the next 10 years. At least 5 physical effects should be taken into account if we discuss limits of scaling of integrated circuits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 1940021
Author(s):  
Shuai Chen ◽  
Lei Wang

The protection of intellectual property (IP) is increasingly critical for IP vendors in the semiconductor industry. Read Only Memories (ROMs) serve as important non-volatile memory in various hardware systems to store predefined data and programs, which is critical to IP protection. Its pre-determined layout pattern makes unauthorized data extraction through chip-level reverse engineering easy to carry out. Advanced reverse engineering techniques can physically disassemble the chip and derive the IPs precisely at a much lower cost than the value of IP design that chips carry. This invasive hardware attack obtaining information from IC chips always violates the IP rights of vendors. This paper proposes a new security mechanism implanted ROM design to address the vulnerability to reverse energy attacks. Irreversible via in ROM layout transform triggered by reverse engineering completely changes the electrical properties and the physical structure of ROMs that determine the stored data. Newly-created patten will significantly increase the difficulty of reverse engineering, even lead the attackers to another working function mode. Furthermore, to improve the effectiveness of the proposed technique, a systematic design method is developed targeting integrated circuits with multiple design constraints. Two widely used ROM scheme cases have been studied to test the design method and its effectiveness. Simulations have been conducted to demonstrate the capability of the proposed technique, which generates extremely large complexity for reverse engineering with manageable overhead. CCS Concepts: Security and privacy → Hardware reverse engineering; Hardware → Hard and soft IP


Author(s):  
Stewart Fulton ◽  
Oliver Ansell ◽  
Janet Hopkins ◽  
Taku Umemoto ◽  
Takuo Nishida

Plasma dicing, as a means of isolating individual integrated circuits from within a fully processed semiconductor substrate, is still an emerging technology but is now considered the latest step in the evolution in device singulation. With the trend towards smaller, thinner more robust devices, many chip manufacturers are considering, or already switching, to a plasma dicing approach.[1, 2] The high aspect ratio, deep reactive ion etching of silicon using a Bosch process, leverages some distinct advantages over the more physical methods of device singulation. [3] Although the more established methods of diamond blade saw dicing, various laser based approaches or laser/mechanical hybrid dicing techniques, all introduce an element of heat and in some cases water for cooling purposes, they do not expose dicing tape to the unique conditions within high vacuum plasma. This work investigates how the properties of both dicing tape and adhesive are affected when exposed to the environment of a plasma dicing process used in the semiconductor industry. A preliminary fitness test utilising an aggressive exothermic etching regime was used to establish the compatibility of a range of standard Lintec Adwill dicing tapes. In essence, a measure of base film thermal conductivity and how quickly some of the lower molecular weight volatile components of base film and adhesive materials are boiled off or ‘out-gassed’. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) tapes performed less well than Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tapes and some of the Polyolefin (PO) tapes exhibited the greatest resilience. A design of experiments to measure changes in tensile strength, elongation and adhesive properties were carried out to assess the performance of plasma dicing on PO low adhesion tape. Figure 2 shows that the samples exposed to an SF6 plasma impacted the tape elongation and tensile strength properties. Typically the stretch required for PnP is in the range 1–10 % showing that the plasma dicing does not impact the overall performance of the tape. Further tests employing a die pick-up force measurement system to compare saw diced die with that of plasma diced die, proved the feasibility of this technology. Figure 3 shows that pick-up force measured on plasma diced dies is comparable with saw diced dies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
C. Marsan-Loyer ◽  
D. Danovitch ◽  
N. Boyer

The requirement for closely coupled, highly integrated circuits in the semiconductor industry has spawned alternative packaging innovations such as 2.5-D/3-D integration. The incredible potential of this alternative comes with great challenges, not the least of which is the unprecedented reduction in package interconnection pitch. Market acceptance of new fine-pitch microelectronic products is strongly dependent on the development of flawless assembly processes that align with the traditional Moore-like expectation of higher performance without cost penalty. One such process is the application of flux to the interconnect surfaces to achieve effective joining. Insufficient flux quantity or flux activity can impede the formation of solid, reliable joints, whereas excessive quantities or activity can cause solder bridging or difficulties with downstream operations such as residue cleaning or underfill reinforcement. This delicate balance, already complex for traditional chip joining, is further challenged by the geometrical and spatial reductions imposed by pitch miniaturization, especially where large die, with over 100,000 interconnects, are concerned. This article presents an overall development protocol to evolving a flux dipping operation to production-level thermocompression assembly of large die (8 × 11 × 0.780 mm) with 11,343 ultrafine pitch (62 μm) copper pillar interconnections. After reviewing the state of the art for fluxing technology and detailing the specific technical issues, we present and defend the chosen flux application approach with its corresponding parameters of interest. Physical and chemical characterization results for selected flux material candidates are reported in conjunction with an analysis of how their properties correlate to the flux dip application parameters. As part of this fundamental understanding, we investigate and report on flux dip coating behavior and how it compares to other industrial dip coating applications. Finally, the results of process assembly experiments in a production-type environment are reviewed and discussed with respect to the previous characterizations. These experiments span downstream assembly process compatibility (i.e., cleaning and underfill) as well as product reliability.


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