Radiation Effects Modeling for High Yield, Reliable Integrated Circuits

The Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) has identified a need to improve the radiation hardness of advanced integrated circuit technologies. To be practical, this must be achieved in a cost effective way. This proposal by AET, Inc. directly addresses these concerns. Specifi-cally, this proposal provides a means to achieve significant advance in radiation hardness of large scale integrated circuits with very high yields and acceptable cost. In order to achieve this AET proposes to develop a software system which will integrate simulators in such a manner that the radiation hardness assessment, the manufacturing process, the device design, and the circuit design can all be simulated in one interactive software set. AET, Inc., intends to accomplish this program objective by using its STADIUM software technology and modifyingit in such a way that radiation hardness implication can be estimated and in addition, be used for comparison purposes when design tradeoffs are being considered. The use of STADIUM and its design of experiments statistical analysis capability will allow extraction of six sigma worst case design/process parameters to be used in radiation effects models. The STADIUM software has been developed at Florida Institute of Technology with funding from SEMATECH and ARPA. This research will lead to the commercialization of previously funded DoD and SEMATECH work, and will focus these results on the integration of the IC design and the radiation hardness requirements. The AET, Inc. management team has the experience to develop and support advanced integrated circuit design software for military and commercial use.