Characterizing Aging Degradation of Integrated Circuits with a Versatile Custom Array of Reliability Test Structures

This work presents an integrated circuit array with custom test structures for the characterization of aging phenomena that includes three types of commonly-used circuits: inverters, single-stage amplifiers, and current mirrors. The array allows the characterization of these circuit blocks through a wide variety of metrics and different accelerated stress and operating conditions. This characterization clearly shows the stochastic nature of aging and the importance of a dedicated test structure to fully understand it at the circuit level.