Invited Programme

Five keynotes speeches and nine invited talks will cover very advanced topics in terms of reliability of electron devices.

KEYNOTE SPEECHES

ESD design challenges in state-of-the-art analog technologies

Dr. Gianluca Boselli
Texas Instruments Inc., USA

Electronics with 2D crystals: potentials, reliability challenges, and the upcoming revolution

Prof. Debdeep Jena
University of Notre Dame, USA

There is intense interest currently for electronic devices that can perform logic and computation by consuming the least amount of joules. Tunneling transistors are an attractive approach, and are being explored in all semiconductor material systems - Si, Si/Ge, and III-V heterostructures. 2D crystals such as graphene (BN, MoS2 and others) are rapidly maturing as unique material systems. This talk will show that the unique symmetry of the bandstructure of graphene offers opportunities for tunnel-transistors that in principle can deliver the best performance in logic when compared to other material systems - in terms of on-currents, complementarity (nFET and pFET), and other metrics [1]. Furthermore, interlayer graphene tunnel devices promise a new kind of tunnel-transistor that exploits symmetry, and where Esaki-type interband tunneling is not required [2]. The extension of such interlayer tunnel transistor concepts to other 2D crystals will also be discussed. Experimental realization of electronic and optical devices with layered 2D crystal semiconductors such as MoS2 and WS2 will be presented. A number of issues related to the reliability of such devices remain as open questions at present. In addition to potential applications for low-power computation, I will also discuss another interesting phenomenon – 2D electron gas based optical THz modulation [3]. Challenges in 2D crystal electronic and photonics will be discussed in this light.
[1] Graphene nanoribbons tunnel transistors. Qin Zhang, Tian Fang, Alan Seabaugh, Huili Xing and Debdeep Jena. IEEE Electron Dev. Lett. 29, 1344, 2008.
[2] Single-particle tunneling in doped graphene-insulator-graphene junctions. Randall Feenstra, Debdeep Jena and G. Gu. J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043711, 2012.
[3] Broadband graphene terahertz modulators enabled by intraband transitions. Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez, Debdeep Jena and Huili Grace Xing et al. Nature Communications, 2012.

Ultra-scaled GaN HEMTs and Their Reliability Challenges *UPDATED*

Prof. Huili (Grace) Xing
University of Notre Dame, USA

GaN semiconductor family has been touted to be technologically most important semiconductor after Si [1]. Since the advent of p-type GaN 20 years ago, GaN based optoelectronics devices have become omnipresent thanks to UV/white/blue/green LEDs, and laser diodes. GaN based transistors also promise miniature power conditioning technologies, more efficient wireless communication stations, and harsh-environment electronics etc. As GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are scaled down for higher speed operation [2], electrostatic control of the device as well as the ohmic contacts needs to be extremely carefully engineered. Without going to FINFET or nanowire – like designs for ultimate electrostatic control, the most attractive device structure for the conventional planar single-gate layout is a 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) sufficiently confined in a quantum-well with both the top and back barriers made of wider bandgap materials than the channel. This paradigm of heterostructure design has been successfully applied in GaAs and InAs channel HEMTs in the past 30 years, especially in pseudomorphic HEMTs (pHEMTs) where a narrow bandgap channel with higher carrier mobility is compressively strained between lattice-matched top and bottom barriers. For GaN HEMTs, this implies the most suitable structure for ultrascaled devices is AlN/InN/AlN. However, this structure is nearly impossible to grow owing to the large lattice mismatch between InN and AlN. Another attractive choice is AlN/GaN/AlN. But, high quality AlN substrates or templates with low trap densities are not yet readily available. Given the constraints of available high quality heterostructures at present, AlN/GaN-channel, Alx>0.5GaN/AlN/GaN-channel and (nearly) lattice-matched-InAlN/AlN/GaN-channel/AlGaN HEMTs have been investigated by various groups including our own. A thin layer of AlN (~ 1 nm) between the barrier and channel is necessary in these structures to suppress alloy scattering that is much higher in GaN family than GaAs and InAs material systems. In this talk, I will review the progress made in our group and discuss the associated reliability challenges.
[1] Polarization-induced hole doping in wide-band-gap uniaxial semiconductor heterostructures. J. Simon, V. Protasenko, C. Lian, H. Xing and D. Jena. Science 327, 60 (2010).
[2] InAlN/AlN/GaN HEMTs with regrown ohmics and fT of 370 GHz. Y. Yue, D. Jena and H. Xing et al. IEEE Electron Device Letters, 2012.

Time dependent dielectric breakdown physics: models revisited

Dr. Joe McPherson
Texas Instruments Inc., USA

TCAD for reliability

Dr. Paul Pfaeffli
Synopsys Inc., USA

INVITED TALKS

Improving system reliability through solderless assembly for electronics (SAFE) methods

Dr. Joseph Fjelstad
Verdant Electronics, Inc. , USA

Charge-related phenomena and reliability of non-volatile memories

Dr. Gabriella Ghidini
ST Microelectronics, Italy

Defect perspective of time-dependent BTI variability

Dr. María Toledano-Luque
UCM University, Spain

Infrared thermography application to functional and failure analysis of electron devices and circuits

Prof. Andrea Irace
University of Naples, Italy

He-ion microscopy for device analysis

Dr. Raoul van Gastel
University of Twente, The Netherlands

Reliability and thermal challenges for GaN RF and power electronics

Prof. Martin Kuball
University of Bristol, UK

GaN has proven to be of great potential for RF and for power electronics, enabling disruptive technology changes, with implementation already taking place in selected technology areas. While excellent device performances have been demonstrated both in the RF and in the power electronics field, reliability is often still a challenge for many of the present GaN electronics components, in particular when pushing the operational boundary conditions to its and beyond its limits. Physical mechanisms for degradation and failure of GaN electronic devices are also not well understood. The presentation we show how novel optical and novel electrical reliability testing methodologies can be used to understand degradation mechanisms of GaN electronics, in the context of thermal and electric field driven degradation mechanisms, including impact ionization, electronic trap generation to thermal interface challenges. We acknowledge financial support from EDA, FP7, ONR, DARPA, EPSRC and various companies.

Reliability of MEMS devices

Dr. Harrie Tilmans
IMEC, Belgium

Active cycling reliability of power devices: expectations and limitations

Dr. Werner Kanert
Infineon Technologies, Germany

Dye solar cells: fabrication and reliability issues

Prof. Aldo Di Carlo
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy