Ultrahigh Permittivity, Ultralow Loss and Stability in (In0.5Ta0.5)0.1Ti0.9O2 Ceramics With Temperature Range From -100 to 235 °C

Dielectric materials with excellent dielectric properties are being promoted in requirements of microelectronic devices. In this study, (In0.5Ta0.5)0.1Ti0.9O2 ceramics were achieved by a solid-state reaction with reducing atmosphere of N2. Also, dense microstructure, ultrahigh permittivity (εr = 1.18 × 105) and ultralow dielectric loss (tanδ = 0.0072) were demonstrated at1 kHz. Interestingly enough, the temperature coefficient of permittivity which satisfies X9D (-100 °C - 235 °C, Δεr/ε25°C < ± 3.3 %) maintained stability at 1 kHz, and the dielectric mechanism could be connected to the electron-pinned defect dipoles (EPDD), which has favourable potential applications in electronic devices.

Editorial for the Special Issue on Robust Microelectronic Devices

Integrated electronic circuits have influenced our society in recent decades and become an indispensable part of our daily lives [...]

NUMERICAL MODELLING OF OSCILLATING FLOW FOR ENERGY HARVESTING

The energy efficiency of systems, equipment, and sensors is nowadays intensively studied. The new generation of microelectronic sensors is very sophisticated and the energy consumption is in the microwatts range. The energy to power the microelectronic devices can be harvested from oscillating flow in small size channels and so replaceable batteries could be eliminated. Piezoelectric elements can convert energy from oscillation to electrical energy. This paper focuses on the simulation of periodic flow in the fluidic oscillator. CFD simulations were performed for several values of the flow rate. Experimental measurement was carried out under the same conditions as the CFD experiment. The main monitored and evaluated parameters were volume flow rate and pressure loss. Fluid oscillations were analysed based on CFD simulations and the theoretical maximum energy available for the deformation of piezoelectric elements and transformable into electrical energy was evaluated.

Damage Degree analysis of storage failure modes for plastic encapsulated microelectronic devices

After long-term storage, plastic sealing devices must have good performance when installed on the whole machine. Identifying the risk of failure mode and taking preventive measures before failure can effectively improve storage reliability. To ensure the quality of military products, this paper studies the storage failure modes of plastic sealed micro-electronic devices, and uses the method of FMECA to calculate the damage degree of each failure mode and determine the key failure modes. The case analysis shows that the damage degree of failure mode is ranked as external lead corrosion, aging of packaging material, chip corrosion and bonding ball corrosion. The evaluation result accords with the actual situation of the method. The improved FMECA model can better deal with the relative importance of risk factors, improve the accuracy of risk ranking, and quantify risks more reasonably.

Hybrid Micro-Energy Harvesting Model using WSN for Self-Sustainable Wireless Mobile Charging Application

The self-sustainable Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) face a major challenge in terms of energy efficiency as they have to operate without replacement of batteries. The benefits of renewable and green energy are taken into consideration for sensing and charging the battery in recent literatures using Energy Harvesting (EH) techniques. The sensors are provided with a reliable energy source through Wireless Charging (WC) techniques. Several challenges in WSN are addressed by combining these technologies. However, it is essential to consider the deployment cost in these systems. This paper presents a self-sustainable energy efficient WSN based model for Mobile Charger (MC) and Energy Harvesting Base Station (EHBS) while considering the cost of deployment. This system can also be used for low-cost microelectronic devices and low-cost Micro-Energy Harvesting (MEH) system-based applications. While considering the deployment cost, the network lifetime is maximized and an extensive comparison of simulation with various existing models is presented to emphasize the validity of the proposed model.

Electron-beam deposition of thermoconducting ceramic coatings for microelectronic devices

This paper presents the experimental study of dielectric coatings based on aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramics as applied to their use in microelectronics. It is shown that the coatings obtained by electron-beam evaporation of ceramic in forevacuum pressures (1-100 Pa) endow devices with required dielectric parameters and improves heat sink from the surface of monolithic integral circuits.

Pairing Laser Ablation and Xe Plasma FIB-SEM: An Approach for Precise End-Pointing in Large-Scale Physical Failure Analysis in the Semiconductor Industry

In this work we present a large-volume workflow for fast failure analysis of microelectronic devices that combines a stand-alone ps-laser ablation tool with a SEM/Xe Plasma FIB system. In this synergy, the ps-laser is used to quickly remove large volumes of bulk material while the SEM/Xe Plasma FIB is used for precise end-pointing to the feature of interest and fine surface polishing after laser. The concept of having a stand-alone laser tool obeys the logic of maximizing productivity as both systems can work simultaneously and continuously. As application examples we first present a full workflow to prepare an artefact-free, delamination-free cross-section in an AMOLED mobile display. We also present applications examples that require cm-sized long cuts to cut through whole microelectronic devices, or removal of cubic-mm of material to prepare mm-sized cross-sections in packages. We discuss a way how to implement correlation data across the laser and FIBSEM platforms through SYNOPSYS Avalon SW allowing precise navigation to the area of interest using layout circuit overlays. We also show an example of image bitmap overlay to navigate across platforms and end-pointing.

STRUCTURAL-PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS IN FILMS AT THE INTERFACE OF THE HETEROSYSTEM “GLASS - CLUSTERS Ag-Pd” – Sn-Pb

Structural-phase transformations in films at the interface of the heterosystem "glass - Ag-Pd clusters" – Sn-Pb have been investigated. The relationship between these transformations and the initial system material component dispersion is established at the same film element temperature operating mode. It is shown that structural-phase transformations in contact elements of hybrid integrated circuits microelectronic devices, sensors and solar cells, etc. made of functional materials based on the specified heterosystem can lead to degradation processes and, as a consequence, to a decrease in the electronic product reliability.