Abstracts

Process and Stress Simulation for BEoL Reliability and Mobility Enhancement
In back end of line (BEoL) processing, high mechanical stresses and large stress gradients in local regions of interconnect structures can lead to yield loss and reliability failures ranging from dielectric cracking and metal voiding to interface debonding and layer delaminations. Stress related failures have become even more significant with the adoption of low-k dielectric materials, which have low mechanical strength and a large thermal expansion coefficient. More recently, intrinsically stressed dielectric layers have been applied as stress sources in leading edge CMOS technologies to engineer beneficial stress in MOSFET channels to enhance electron and hole mobilities.

Fammos TX is a Synopsys TCAD product which analyzes stress evolution in interconnect processes and in dual stress liners (DSL) used in strained-silicon CMOS technologies. This webcast shows how Fammos TX generates complex 3D structures from GDS II and process data and illustrates its applicability to process integration challenges in interconnect and strained-silicon structures.

Gallium Nitride HFETs: Physical Models and Simulations for RF and Power Applications
GaN Heterostructure Field-Effect transistors (HFETs) are attracting considerable attention as high-power and high-frequency devices for radar, avionics and wireless base-station transmitters, thanks to the unique material properties of III-N material system. This webcast concentrates on simulation of GaN HFET devices using TCAD Sentaurus Device including treatment of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization effects, numerical accuracy settings, assignment of bulk and interface traps, and selection of mobility and transport models. The models are then applied to DC, RF and reliability simulations to illustrate the growing application of TCAD to this fast-rising class of devices

Electromagnetic Simulation of Image Sensors: From Design to Manufacturability
Over the past decade, CMOS image sensors have grown to a multi-billion dollar market, and are now a fundamental component in mobile phones, digital, web and video cameras, industrial sensors, etc. The push to increase pixel density has resulted in modern pixel designs that are diffraction limited, demanding the rigorous solution of the Maxwell equations to simulate the transmission of the light through the lens, filters before absorption by the photodiode. This webcast discusses the application of TCAD Sentaurus Device EMW to the electromagnetic simulation of CMOS image sensors (CIS) and charge-coupling devices (CCD). Recent improvements to the FDTD algorithm are shown which significantly improve the speed of these simulations, allowing image sensor designers to make more efficient use of TCAD tools throughout the entire design cycle, from conceptual to manufacturability studies.