A case study of electromigration reliability: From design point to system operations

Abstract

While great efforts have been made to counter the EM reliability degradation due to technology scaling, closer cooperation is needed among semiconductor fabricators, circuit/chip designers and system integrators to ensure final product reliability. This paper presents an example of systematic EM reliability evaluation from design point definition to chip design verification, to system characterization, and finally to EM reliability monitoring from in-field operations.