Modeling Incident Particle Damage in Semiconductor Crystals
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Integrated circuits are vulnerable to damages caused by incident particles, such as cosmic rays, which can lead to errors and permanent damage due to the complex structure and reduced dimensions of semiconductor-manufactured components, making it challenging to accurately estimate and prevent such damages.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for modeling damages caused by incident particles, involving the estimation of energy loss, vacancy volume, and vacancy reaction in crystals, using particle and crystal information to generate quantification data on the damages, enabling the design of more robust integrated circuits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If integrated circuits are designed with complex structures and reduced dimensions to improve performance, then productivity and performance are improved, but reliability deteriorates due to increased vulnerability to incident particle damages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing damage modeling and estimation before the integrated circuit is actually manufactured. The system calculates vacancy reactions and damage volumes based on particle incident scenarios, allowing designers to predict and mitigate potential reliability issues before production, thus resolving the contradiction between advanced structure design and reliability concerns
2Reliability
If accurate damage estimation methods are developed to improve reliability, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the sophisticated modeling requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the damage estimation process into distinct modular components: particle incident simulation, vacancy generation calculation, vacancy reaction modeling, and damage volume computation. Each module handles a specific aspect of the problem independently, allowing accurate reliability assessment while managing system complexity through functional decomposition
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary computational model that bridges particle physics and material damage. The vacancy reaction model acts as an intermediary layer that translates particle incident parameters into quantifiable damage metrics, simplifying the overall system complexity while maintaining high reliability in damage estimation
Data Source
AI summary
A method of modeling damages to a crystal caused by an incident particle includes obtaining particle information and crystal information; estimating energy loss of the incident particle based on the particle information and the crystal information; estimating a volume of a vacancy based on the energy loss; estimating a vacancy reaction based on the crystal information and the volume of the vacancy; and generating output data based on the vacancy reaction, the output data including quantification data of the damages.