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Predicting gate oxide reliability from statistical process control nodes in integrated circuit manufacturing — a case study
Author(s) -
Prendergast James G.,
Murphy Eamonn,
Stephenson Malcom
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
quality and reliability engineering international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1099-1638
pISSN - 0748-8017
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1638(199709/10)13:5<269::aid-qre101>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - reliability (semiconductor) , taguchi methods , gate oxide , reliability engineering , integrated circuit , wafer , dielectric , design of experiments , materials science , repeatability , electronic engineering , engineering , electrical engineering , optoelectronics , mathematics , voltage , composite material , statistics , transistor , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
This paper investigates the possibility of transferring the concepts developed for SPC into reliability control of integrated circuits. It employs Taguchi methods and response surface methodology to predict the reliability of a 20 nm gate oxide process using selected critical in line parameters. A Taguchi L 12 design was used as a screening experiment to determine the most critical factors which effect the reliability of the gate oxide dielectric. From this three parameters were selected for use in a central composite face centred array to model their effect on the oxide dielectric reliability using response surface methodology. The reliability of the oxide dielectric was measured using time‐dependent dielectric breakdown testing, and the calculations were based on the time to 0⋅1 per cent cumulative failure, as this is the time on which industry standard reliability predictions are based. The results show that using a test chip the intrinsic reliability of the oxide can be modelled using the values obtained from critical nodes within a wafer fabrication facility and that this is a viable approach to predict oxide reliability. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.