Testing for MOS IC Failure Modes

The failure modes of MOS technology are described with emphasis on recent trends in LSI. Failures are classified into short, open, degradation, and soft recoverable errors. The following failure modes are covered: oxide breakdown caused by static discharge and time-dependent effects; metallization failures caused by electromigration or corrosion; threshold voltage shifts caused by ionic contamination, surface-charge spreading, and the hot-electron effect. Special attention is paid to the increasingly important alpha-particle-induced soft errors. Methods by which each of the failure modes can be detected are discussed and tabulated, together with the information on acceleration factors necessary for designing life and screen tests. Of the failure modes cited, threshold shifts due to hot electrons, and soft errors caused by ionizing radiation are likely to be increasingly important as VLSI technology progresses.