Efficient Simulation of Electromigration Damage in Large Chip Power Grids Using Accurate Physical Models (Invited Paper)

Najm, Farid N.; Sukharev, Valeriy

doi:10.1109/irps.2019.8720438

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Therefore, some physics-based EM compact models have been proposed to incorporate the atom movement between segments [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. It is noted that there are already several excellent reviews on relevant topics in [34,[45][46][47][48], but they are mainly on power grids. In this review article, we will summarize the studies on physics-based EM compact modeling and its applications on various on-chip interconnects and their most recent updates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress in Physics-Based Modeling of Electromigration in Integrated Circuit Interconnects

2022

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The advance of semiconductor technology not only enables integrated circuits with higher density and better performance but also increases their vulnerability to various aging mechanisms which occur from front-end to back-end. Analysis on the impact of aging mechanisms on circuits’ reliability is crucial for the design of reliable and sustainable electronic systems at advanced technology nodes. As one of the most crucial back-end aging mechanisms, electromigration deserves research efforts. This paper introduces recent studies on physics-based modeling of electromigration aging of on-chip interconnects. At first, the background of electromigration is introduced. The conventional method and physics-based modeling for electromigration are described. Then studies on how electromigration affects powers grids and signal interconnects are discussed in detail. Some of them focus on the comprehensiveness of modeling methodology, while others aim at the strategies for improving computation accuracy and speed and the strategies for accelerating/decelerating aging. Considering the importance of electromigration for circuit reliability, this paper is dedicated to providing a review on physics-based modeling methodologies on electromigration and their applications for integrated circuits interconnects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress in Physics-Based Modeling of Electromigration in Integrated Circuit Interconnects

2022

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“…In the technologies with metal line embedded into a rigid conĄnement [96Ű98], voids form earlier than hillocks . The earlier occurrence of voids makes void-induced degradation the main mechanism for EM failure [99].…”

Section: The Electromigration Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of electromigration in integrated circuits at design level

Nunes¹

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Electromigration damage in interconnects is a well-known bottleneck of integrated circuits, because it causes reliability problems. Operation at high temperatures and current densities accelerates the damage, increasing the interconnect resistance and, therefore, reducing the circuit lifetime. This issue has been accentuated with the technology downscaling. To guarantee the interconnect reliability and, as a consequence, the integrated circuit reliability, traditional methods based on the so-called Blech Effect and on the maximum allowed current density are implemented during interconnect design. These methods, however, do not take into account the impact of the electromigration on the circuit performance.In this work the traditional approach is extended and a method to evaluate the effect of the electromigration in an integrated circuit performance is developed. The method is implemented in a tool which identiĄes the critical interconnect lines of an integrated circuit and suggests the proper interconnect width based on different criteria to mitigate the electromigration damage and to increase the reliability. In addition, the variation of performance parameters of the circuit as an interconnect resistance changes is determined.The tool is incorporated into the design Ćow of the integrated circuit and uses the data from design kits and reports directly available from the design environment.An accurate analysis of the temperature distribution on the interconnect structure is essential to a better assessment of the interconnect reliability. Therefore, a model to compute the temperature on each metallization level of the interconnect structure is implemented.The temperature distribution on the metallization layers of different technologies is investigated. It is shown that the temperature in the Metal 1 of the Intel 10 nm can increase by 75 K, 12 K higher than in the Metal 2. As expected, the layers that are closer to the transistors undergo a more signiĄcant temperature increase.The tool is applied to evaluate the interconnects and the robustness of different circuits, namely a ring oscillator, a bandgap voltage reference circuit, and an operational ampliĄer, against electromigration. The operational ampliĄer, in particular, is thoroughly studied.The proposed methodology identiĄes critical interconnects which under electromigration cause large variations in the performance of the circuit. In a worst-case scenario, the cutoff frequency of the circuit varies by 65% in 5 years of operation. An interesting Ąnding is that the proposed methodology identiĄes critical interconnects which would not be identiĄed by the traditional criteria. These interconnects have current densities below the limit recommended by the design rules. Nevertheless, one of such an interconnect leads to a variation of 30% in the gain of the operational ampliĄer. In summary, the proposed tool veriĄed that from the 20% paths with a critical current density, only 3% degrades signiĄcantly the circuit performance.This work brings the study of the reli...

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Temperature-Aware Electromigration Analysis with Current-Tracking in Power Grid Networks

Jing

Cai

Zhou

2021

J. Comput. Sci. Technol.

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Efficient Simulation of Electromigration Damage in Large Chip Power Grids Using Accurate Physical Models (Invited Paper)

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

Recent Progress in Physics-Based Modeling of Electromigration in Integrated Circuit Interconnects

Recent Progress in Physics-Based Modeling of Electromigration in Integrated Circuit Interconnects

Study of electromigration in integrated circuits at design level

Temperature-Aware Electromigration Analysis with Current-Tracking in Power Grid Networks

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