Experiences on reliability simulation in the framework of the PROPHECY project

Electromigration and oxide time dependent dielectric breakdown simulations based on library elements of a 0.35 mu m CMOS technology have been performed. In the case of hot carrier degradation simulations as well as experiments using 99-stage ring oscillators of the same 0.35 mu m CMOS technology have been carried out and compared. The frequency behaviour as a function of supply voltage and temperature has been investigated. Relaxation effects on the ring oscillators have been found. These effects are not covered by the reliability simulation tool. In a certain region of supply voltage and operation time the results of simulations could be confirmed by experiments. In all other cases the measured frequency degradation was smaller than the simulated degradation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.