Descripció

La fiabilitat, el cost i les prestacions formen un Triangle de Valor que determina les relacions entre consumidors i productorsde microelectrònica. En el nostre grup tenim una experiència de més de 20 anys en l'estudi dels mecanismes que limiten la fiabilitat de dispositius electrònics MOS. En particular, ens centrem en l'estudi dels mecanimes físics de fallada que limiten el temps de vida útil de l'aïllant de porta, element capdal en aquest tipus de dispositius. Tenim experiència en l'análisi de la física dels dispositus però també en la metodología estadística que permet desevolupar procediments d'assesgurament i qualificació de la tecnologia a nivell industrial. En aquest aspecte, resaltarem la nostra  intensa col·laboració amb l'empresa IBM Microelectronics des de l'any 2000.

Investigadors Responsables

Jordi Suñé                        (Necessites javascript per veure aquest correu-e)

Enrique Miranda               (Necessites javascript per veure aquest correu-e)

Publicacions recents

• E. Miranda, P. Falbo, M. Nafria, F. Crupi, Electron transport through electrically induced nanoconstrictions in HfSiON gate stacks, Applied Physics Letters 92, 253505 (2008).
• E. Miranda, K. L. Pey, R. Ranjan, and C. H. Tung, Equivalent circuit model for the gate leakage current in broken down HfO2/TaN/TiN gate stacks, IEEE Electron Device Letters 29, 1353 (2008)
• S.Tous, E.Y. Wu and J. Suñé, A compact model for oxide breakdown failure distribution in ultrathin oxides showing progressive breakdown, IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 29, 949-951 (2008).
• J. Suñé, E. Y. Wu and W. L. Lai, Statistics of competing post-breakdown failure modes in ultra-thin MOS devices, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 53 pp. 224-234 (2006)
• E. Miranda, Mesoscopic approach to progressive breakdown in ultra-thin oxides, Applied Physics Letters 91, 053502 (2007)

Antecedents del grup en l'àmbit de la fiabilitat de dispositius

El nostre grup ha fet recerca sobre la ruptura dielèctrica i les seves implicacions per a la fiabilitat de la tecnologia CMOS en un període de més de 20 anys. La següent llista dona idea del nivell d'excel·lència assolit en aquest camp:

• Publication of 11 papers related to oxide breakdown at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (from 1991 to 2007)
• Publication of more than 150 papers on oxide breakdown and reliability in high impact journals. Among these, 33 papers in IEEE journals (Transactions on Electron Devices + Electron Device Letters + Transactions on Nuclear Science +Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability); 26 papers in AIP journals (Applied Physics Letters+ Journal of Applied Physics); 3 papers in APS journals (Phys. Rev. Lett.+Phys. Rev.) and 22 papers in Reliability specific journals (Microelectronics Reliability+Quality&Reliability Engineering International). These papers have received more than 1000 citations as found in the Web of Science system.
• 20 invited papers on oxide breakdown in international journals and conferences, including 3 review papers and 5 tutorials at the IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (first one in 2001, last one in 2009), which is the most relevant conference of the field.
• Profs. J. Suñé and E. Miranda have served in the most important Technical Committees of relevant international conferences related to electron devices and reliability. J. S. served at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting CMOS and Interconnect Reliability Subcommittee (2000,2001), the International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) Device Dielectrics Subcommittee (2000, 2001, 2002), the IEEE Semiconductor Interface Specialist Conference (SISC) (1999, 2000, 2001) and the International Conf. Insulating Films on Semiconductors (INFOS) technical program committee (2001-2005). E.M. has served in INFOS Technical Program Committee (2007,2009), IRPS Device Dielectrics Subcommittee (2008,2009), IPFA (International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits) Advisory Committee (2009).
• Since 2003 Prof. E. Miranda serves as a member of the IEEE- Electron Device Society Distinguished Lecturer Program and since 2001 he is member of the Editorial Board of the journal Microelectronics Reliability (Ed. Elsevier, England)
• Research work under contract for IBM Microelectronics (2002-2008) for the study of ultrathin-oxide breakdown and related reliability methodologies. We have also continuous research collaborations with international groups of recognized value such as the one lead by Prof. Iwai at the Tokyo Institute of Technology-Frontier Collaborative Research Center (Japan), the group of Prof. Pey at the Microelectronics Centre, School of EEE, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore); and the group of Dr. Hurley at the Tyndall National Institute (Ireland).
• In 2004, Prof. Suñé received the Award of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the promotion of university research.
• In 2008, Prof. Suñé received the IBM Faculty Award (2008) for contributions to the field of oxide reliability.
• In 2004 and 2006, Prof. E. Miranda received research fellowships from the Matsumae International Foundation (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan) and Tan Chin Tuan (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), respectively.
• In 2008, Prof. E. Miranda received the Walton Visitor Award from the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).