I recently had an eye-opening discussion regarding the phenomena of soft errors in semiconductor devices. I always knew this could be a problem in space, where there are all kinds of high energy particles. What I didn’t realize is there are two trends that are making this kind of problem relevant on the ground as well as in space. The… Read More
Radiation is everywhere. Radiation contributes to Single Event Effects (SEE) in semiconductor circuits and packaging. As chips get larger, containing more functions, and using lower voltage to reduce power, SEEs have become more significant to product reliability, Failures In Time rates (FIT), and meantime between failures… Read More
Issam Nofal is the CEO of IROC Technologies and has held various positions with the company for over 23 years as Product Manager, Project Leader, and R&D Engineer. He has authored several papers on test and reliability of Integrated Circuits. He holds a PhD in Microelectronics from Grenoble INP.
One of the best things about being part of SemiWiki is the exposure to new technologies and the people behind them. SemiWiki now works with more than 35 companies and I get to spend time with each and every one of them. Much like I do, IROC Technologies works closely with the foundries and the top semiconductor companies so it was a pleasure… Read More
Often as we move down the process node treadmill, new challenges appear that we didn’t really have to worry about before. Often, these challenges require addressing at a number of different levels: the process, the cell libraries, the design, the EDA tools that we use.
One well known example is the problem of metal migration.… Read More
