Silicon-die thermal monitoring using embedded sensor cells unit

Abstract

Thermal monitoring is essential in integrated circuit (IC) and VLSI chip which are a multilayer structure and a stack of different materials. The increase of the internal temperature of the VLSI circuits can conduct to serious thermal and also thermo-mechanical problems. Due to aggressive technology scaling, VLSI integration density as well as power density increases drastically. Thermal phenomena research activities on micro-scale level are essential for SoC and MEMS-based applications. However, various measurement techniques are needed to understand the thermal behavior of VLSI chip. In particular, measurement techniques for surface temperature distributions of large VLSI systems are a highly challenging research topic. This paper presents an algorithm and the experimental result of silicon-die thermal monitoring method using embedded sensor cells unit. Sensor implementation results and analysis are also presented.

A spatiotemporal signal processing technique for wafer-scale IC thermomechanical stress monitoring by an infrared camera

“…All of the cells are a clone (photo-repetition) and each of them contain a part of an internal reconfigurable network for interconnection with neighbouring cells and have a 4 × 4 NanoPads on its surface (top metal layer) [2]. In our previews work [13], we introduced, tested on an FPGA and calibrated a Ring Oscillator (RO) for the purpose of temperature measurement with the GDS (Gradient Direction Sensor) technique. For WaferIC implementation, we propose the use a same RO measurement technique at the cell-level.…”

“…In addition, 50% of the failure in the electronic device is due to the increase of the internal temperature of the chip [12]. However, the WaferIC must be able to support a large temperature differential at its surface [13]. Therefore, in this paper we propose a spatiotemporal signal processing technique for Wafer-Scale IC thermomechanical stress monitoring by an infrared camera.…”

Silicon Die Transient Thermal Peak Prediction Approach

“…It consists of a simple approximation of the geometry and variables describing the physical phenomenon such as displacement, velocity, pressure, and temperature [4][5][6]. In the previous works [7], the method of evaluating the thermal peak distributions and temperature distribution of all monitored areas using Gradient Direction Sensor (GDS) is presented along with a method of monitoring the thermal and thermomechanical stress of a Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) chip. This paper is organized as follows: Section II describes the thermal model of the board and its simulation under COMSOL Multiphysics®.…”