HIGH RELIABILITY ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS DESIGN
Academic year and teacher
If you can't find the course description that you're looking for in the above list,
please see the following instructions >>
- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- CRISTIAN ZAMBELLI
- Credits
- 6
- Curriculum
- Components & circuits design
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- ING-INF/01
Training objectives
- The high reliability electronic systems design course examines in detail the analysis techniques, the statistical modeling approaches, and the prediction methods for electronic systems reliability. The course is structured on three tiers: the tier 0 supplies the theoretical structures for the statistical analysis of the data and the reliability modeling of a generic electronic system; the tier 1 provides the relationships between the yield and the reliability of a system; the tier 2 shows the typical failure mechanisms of electronic components, evidencing the main techniques used for their modeling and for a potential occurrence reduction.
The main goal of the course consists in providing the basic elements for the analysis of the reliability of complex multicomponents electronic systems considering cost constraints in terms of test sample size, time, and technological complexity. Those tools will be the foundation of the high reliability electronic system design.
The main acquired knowledge will be:
- Theoretical elements of electronic systems reliability referring to the terms and the modeling techniques used in statistical failure analysis.
- Probability distributions and properties used for failure modeling.
- Knowledge of the relationship between reliability and yield of an electronic system.
- Knowledge of the most common failure mechanisms in integrated circuits Technologies, methods for their reduction/annealing and modeling by considering temperature, radiation, and voltage effects.
The basic acquired abilities (that are the capacity of applying the acquired knowledge) will be:
- Identify the failure mechanism of an electronic system.
- Ability to plan accelerated tests and experiments to evidence peculiar failure mechanisms considering test constraints.
- Evaluate the application of a component or a system in a definite working environment (e.g., high temperatures) and assess its residual lifetime.
- Use calculus software to study accelerated tests and experiments outcome for the analysis of the electronic systems reliability.
- Design an high reliability electronic system. Prerequisites
- To follow the course it is mandatory to have studied the following concepts:
- Probability and descriptive statistics, Calculus for Tier 0
- Digital Electronics (Electron devices manufacturing) for Tier 1
- Design of high frequency electronics circuits for Tier 2
During the course will be provided some recalls to those concepts to ease the comprehension of some specific topics. To pass the exam it is not mandatory to have passed the associated exams. Course programme
- Tier 0 (Theory and fundamentals)
Reliability definition - Discipline evolution in electronic systems - Reliability trends in ICs (Lecture 1)
Rigorous definitions (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Survaivability) - Failure modes of electronic systems - MTTF e MTBF (Definizione) (Lecture 2)
Cumulative Density Function (CDF) and Probability Density Function (PDF) - Reliability function - Hazard rate - Repairable systems - Repair rate (ROCOF) (Lecture 3)
Accelerated tests theory - Acceleration factor - Arrhenius and Eyring acceleration models (Lecture 4)
Statistical analysis of the data - Monte Carlo techniques for CDF and PDF simulations - Statistical parameters estimates (LSE and MLE) (Lecture 5)
Theory and analysis of systems (Lecture 6)
The Weibull distribution and its application in electronic systems - The normal distribution and six sigma applications (Lecture 7)
The lognormal distribution - The Birnbaum-Saunders distribution - Proportional hazard model (Cox model) (Lecture 8)
Zero failures test - Design of Experiment for reliability assessment (DoE) - Wear-out models - Burn In (Lecture 9)
Tier 1 (Yield and reliability)
Yield in ICs - Defects statistics - Yield formulae - Defect types (Lecture 10)
Process steps-induced defects - Thermal stresses - Contamination of the manufacturing process of electronic systems - Yield and reliability relationship (Lecture 11)
Tier 2 (Applications of the theory)
Electromigration - MTTF of the electromigration (Black's model) - Testing and methods to reduce electromigration (Lecture 12)
The breakdown - Models and test methods - Acceleration factor for breakdown (Lecture 13)
MTTF model for hot carrier degradation - Methods to reduce hot carrier degradation - NBTI definition and related issues (Lecture 14)
Radiation effects in electronic systems - Prevention of radiation damages - Contacts - Interdiffusion barriers and silicides (Lecture 15)
Non-volatile memories reliability (Lecture 16) Didactic methods
- 17 Class Lectures
1 Tutorial on MATLAB
Seminars on high reliability electronic systems design Learning assessment procedures
- The aim of the exam is to verify at which level the learning objectives previously described have been acquired.
The final exam is an oral examination with three questions on the topics presented in all the three levels of the course.
Passing the final exam is the proof that knowledge and abilities outlined in the training objectives of the course have been achieved.
The exam can be taken in english if desired. Reference texts
- The main textbooks used for this course are:
- Applied Reliability, Paul A. Tobias and David Trinidade, Chapman&Hall/CRC
- Reliability and Failure of Electronic Materials and Devices, Milton Ohring, Academic Press
- Failure Mechanisms in Semiconductor Devices, E.A. Amerasekera and D.S. Campbell, Wiley
Many other specific references can be found on:
- www.weibull.com
- ieexplore.org
- IEEE Reliability Society su rs.ieee.org
- IEEE Electron Device Society su eds.ieee.org
