ECE 60614 - Reliability Physics of Nanoelectronic Transistors
Course Details
Lecture Hours: 3 Credits: 3
Areas of Specialization:
- Microelectronics and Nanotechnology
Counts as:
Normally Offered:
Spring - odd years
Campus/Online:
On-campus only
Requisites:
ECE 60600
Catalog Description:
This course will focus on the physics of reliability of small semiconductor devices. In traditional courses on device physics, the students learn how to compute current through a device in response to applied voltage. However, as transistors are turned on and off trillions of times during the years of the operation, gradually defects accumulate within the device so that at some point the transistor does not work anymore. The course will explore the physics and mathematics regarding how and when things break - a topic of great interest to semiconductor device engineers.
Required Text(s):
None.
Recommended Text(s):
- Advanced Semiconductor Fundamentals , 2nd Edition , R.F. Pierret , Prentice Hall , 2002 , ISBN No. 0-13-061792-X
- Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices , Yuan Taur and Tak H. Ning , Cambridge University Press , 1998 , ISBN No. 0 521 55056 4
- Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization , D. K. Schroeder , John Wiley & Sons , 2015 , ISBN No. 0-471-73906-5
Lecture Outline:
| Lecture | Major Topics |
|---|---|
| 3 lectures | Introduction |
| 3 lectures | Spatial randomness and nature of defects |
| 6 lectures | Interface reliability of semiconductor devices: NBTI degradation |
| 4 lectures | Interface reliability of semiconductor devices: Hot carrier degradation |
| 4 lectures | Theory and practice of interface characterization techniques |
| 7 lectures | Time-dependent dielectric breakdown |
| 2 lectures | Breakdown in thick dielectrics |
| 5 lectures | Radiation damage in semiconductor devices |
| 4 lectures | Statistics of reliability |
| 2 lectures | Concluding lectures |
Assessment Method:
Class participation, exams, project (9/2023)