Measuring 65-nm circuits
Rick Nelson, Chief Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 11/1/2005 2:00:00 AM
Overcoming the Measurement Challenges of Advanced Semiconductor Technologies,1st ed., Pete Hulbert, et al., Keithley Instruments (www.keithley.info/semihandbook), 2005. 140 pages. Free.
As process geometries shrink below 90 nm, material and device innovations—rather than traditional process scaling—are driving semiconductor advances. That's the contention the authors make to introduce Keithley's new handbook on parametric measurements of semiconductor devices. They go on to demonstrate in detail what those material and device innovations are and what they mean to engineers trying to make measurements on devices employing them.
For example, the authors describe why gate-oxide layers are getting thinner, how the change affects capacitance-voltage measurements, and what demands it puts on the instruments used to make those measurements. They also explain why high-dielectric-constant gate materials are being employed (to reduce gate leakage) and how to characterize the reliability of these materials—specifically, by using a charge-pumping technique to make charge-trapping measurements.
A section describes RF wafer tests that don't require big-iron ATE systems, providing details on factors such as probe-card control. A related chapter describes statistical-process-control techniques that manufactures can apply to wireless device manufacturing in order to meet known-good-die goals for the RFICs destined for cell phones.
An extensive section covers reliability testing, touching on subjects including wafer-level reliability testing, high-throughput gate-dielectric reliability tests, and a cylindrical stress test applied to improved thermal stability of copper vias. A concluding section describes femtoamp DC leakage tests for devices aimed at low-power mobile applications.
This book is free, so it's not surprising that there's the occasional word from the sponsor, such as that a particular Keithley system "provides the lowest cost of ownership available."Also not surprisingly, the book uses Keithley instrumentation in its measurement example. Nevertheless, the authors provide more than enough generic information to make the book a worthwhile read regardless of whose instruments you use.
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