Circuit reliability simulator-oxide breakdown module

Abstract

A computer program which generates statistics about circuit failures due to MOS oxide breakdown has been developed. The program, CORS (Circuit Oxide Reliability Simulator), predicts the probability of circuit failure as a function of operating time, temperature, power supply voltage, and input waveforms. It consists of a preprocessor and postprocessor for SPICE. CORS calculates the probability of failure by using the node voltages provided by SPICE and oxide defect statistics provided by the user. The effect of burn-in on oxide reliability can also be simulated. CORS is linked to a hot electron and an electromigration reliability simulator. Simulation results are presented.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>