Aging and Reliability Effects Modelling and Mitigation in Nanoelectronics and Sensors

纳米电子学和传感器中的老化和可靠性影响建模和缓解

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04016
• 负责人: Ivanov, Andre
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=752130
• 关键词: Aging; Reliability; Effects; Modelling; Mitigation

Micro- and nano-electronic devices (transistors & sensors) form the basis of all current and emerging computing, communication and sensing networks. These devices are already found in all facets of society and economic sectors and a multitude of emerging applications are driving their deployment at an unprecedented pace expected to continue for decades. Example applications include autonomous vehicles, internet of things, cryogenic applications in space or particle accelerators, and quantum computers. One fundamental problem that plagues such devices is their increased susceptibility to aging, namely to demonstrate a noticeable degradation in performance and/or functionality over time. One demonstration of transistor aging is the shifting of the voltage at which a transistor turns on or off. Over time this leads such transistors to become slower to the point of failing to function altogether and thereby leading to system failure. While possibly tolerable common consumer products, such degradation will not be tolerable in systems and applications with requirements set for high-performance and/or high safety-criticality for extensive periods of time, e.g., automotive sector. My recent research has investigated some fundamental phenomena related to aging in semiconductor materials. The proposed work will extend this work by focusing on establishing fundamental knowledge and characterization of the mechanisms that cause transistor and sensor degradations over time. The focus will be on the most common technologies like Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) as well on other emerging technologies such as Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) used in novel radiation detectors with applications in medical imaging, security (bomb detection) and surveillance. The proposed research program will also aim at developing solutions that eliminate altogether or mitigate the causes for degradation over time. This work will therefore aim at developing solutions that will allow the deployment of future high performance and/or highly reliable compute, communication and sensor systems and networks. The work will involve the development of sophisticated numerical modelling techniques and will lead to novel device fabrication, circuit, and system design methodologies that take into account or circumvent aging mechanisms, and involve graduates (6) and undergraduates (3) who will become highly qualified and employable by Canadian industry and able to contribute to future R&D in industrial or academic environments. The work will contribute to the worldwide semiconductor R&D community focused on electronic device reliability challenges.  The work will be of direct and indirect importance and interest to a myriad of organizations established in Canada and focused on current or emerging computing, communications and sensing technologies. These include MDA, Huawei, IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsemi, D-Wave, Canadian Space Agency, Redlen Technologies, and others.

微电子和纳米电子设备（晶体管和传感器）构成了所有当前和新兴计算、通信和传感网络的基础。这些设备已经存在于社会和经济部门的各个方面，大量新兴应用正在以前所未有的速度推动其部署，预计将持续数十年。示例应用包括自动驾驶车辆、物联网、太空或粒子加速器中的低温应用以及量子计算机。困扰此类设备的一个基本问题是它们对老化的敏感性增加，即随着时间的推移表现出性能和/或功能的明显下降。晶体管老化的一种表现是晶体管导通或截止电压的变化。随着时间的推移，这会导致此类晶体管变得更慢，甚至无法完全发挥作用，从而导致系统故障。虽然普通消费产品可能是可以容忍的，但在长时间内要求高性能和/或高安全关键性的系统和应用（例如汽车领域）中，这种退化是不能容忍的。我最近的研究调查了与半导体材料老化相关的一些基本现象。拟议的工作将通过重点建立导致晶体管和传感器随时间退化的机制的基础知识和表征来扩展这项工作。重点将放在最常见的技术上，例如互补金属氧化物半导体 (CMOS) 以及其他新兴技术，例如用于新型辐射探测器的碲化镉锌 (CZT)，并应用于医学成像、安全（炸弹检测）和监视领域。拟议的研究计划还将旨在开发解决方案，以完全消除或减轻随着时间的推移而导致退化的原因。因此，这项工作的目标是开发能够部署未来高性能和/或高度可靠的计算、通信和传感器系统和网络的解决方案。这项工作将涉及复杂数值建模技术的开发，并将带来考虑或规避老化机制的新型器件制造、电路和系统设计方法，并涉及毕业生 (6 名) 和本科生 (3 名)，他们将成为加拿大工业界的高素质和就业人员，并能够为工业或学术环境中的未来研发做出贡献。 这项工作将为全球专注于电子设备可靠性挑战的半导体研发界做出贡献。  这项工作对于加拿大设立的众多专注于当前或新兴计算、通信和传感技术的组织具有直接和间接的重要性和兴趣。其中包括 MDA、华为、IBM、亚马逊、谷歌、Microsemi、D-Wave、加拿大航天局、Redlen Technologies 等。