Hardness variability in commercial and hardened technologies
Over the past 10 years, there have been a number of advances in methods to assess and assure the radiation hardness of microelectronics in military and space applications. At the forefront of these is the Qualified Manufacturers List (QML) methodology, in which the hardness of product is ``built-in`` through statistical process control (SPC) of technology parameters relevant to the radiation response, test structure to integrated circuit (IC) correlations, and techniques for extrapolating laboratory test results to varying radiation scenarios. At the same time, there has been renewed interest in the use of commercial technology -- with its enhanced performance, reduced cost, and higher reliability -- in military and space systems. In this paper, we initially demonstrate the application of QML techniques to assure and control the radiation response of hardened technologies. Through several examples, we demonstrate intra-die, wafer-to-wafer, and lot-to-lot variations in a hardened technology. We observe 10 to 30% variations in key technology parameters that result from variability in geometry, process, and design layout. Radiation-induced degradation is seen to mirror preirradiation characteristics. We then evaluate commercial technologies and report considerably higher variability in radiation hardness, i.e., variations by a factor of two to five. This variability is shown to arise from a lack of control of technology parameters relevant to the radiation response, which a commercial manufacturer has no interest in controlling in a normal process flow.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Defense Nuclear Agency, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 10128251
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-94-0532C; CONF-940726-1; ON: DE94007270; BR: GB0103012
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 31. annual international nuclear and space radiation effects conference,Tucson, AZ (United States),18-22 Jul 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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