ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the most important failure mechanisms at the device level, such as electromigration, hot carriers negative bias temperature instability, and time-dependent dielectric breakdown. It provides some of the additional considerations and methodologies that will enhance reliability and the accuracy of the projections for SiGe and CMOS. A successful reliability philosophy is based on providing rules, degradation models, and equations that will assure a field failure rate of zero for all wear-out reliability degradation mechanisms. Reliability failures are typically caused by a combination of three types of defects: wear-out mechanisms that shorten useful life, systematic defects caused by process variations that extend beyond acceptable limits, and random defects that naturally occur in any semiconductor manufacturing process. Any successful semiconductor manufacturer must manage all three types of defects in a cohesive and proactive manner, emphasizing reliability through the design and manufacturing stages.
