Devising a test strategy to characterize system reliability of submicron interconnect wiring

Author

Thomas, Mike ; Plummer, John

Author_Institution

Nat. Semicond. Corp., Santa Clara, CA, USA

fYear

1998

fDate

35953

Firstpage

82

Lastpage

87

Abstract

Measuring the distribution of time to failure of faults in metal interconnects is highly analogous to the weakest link problem, i.e. one can measure the strength of the weakest link, but when a chain breaks the characteristic of any remaining weak links cannot be determined. This paper looks for a way to project the characteristics of all weak links given measurements of the weakest of those links. We show that when the form of the distribution is understood, a good estimate can be made, and that error tolerances are not restrictive. Monte Carlo simulation is used to establish these results

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; circuit simulation; failure analysis; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit modelling; integrated circuit reliability; integrated circuit testing; Monte Carlo simulation; error tolerances; fault distribution; interconnect wiring; metal interconnect faults; metal interconnects; system reliability; test strategy; time to failure distribution; weakest link problem; Artificial intelligence; Grain boundaries; Grain size; Integrated circuit interconnections; Reliability; Sputter etching; System testing; Time measurement; Wire; Wiring;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Statistical Metrology, 1998. 3rd International Workshop on

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4338-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IWSTM.1998.729776

Filename

729776