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Due to the increasing size of integrated circuits (ICs), their design and optimization phases (i.e., computer-aided design, CAD) grow increasingly complex. At design time, a large design space needs to be explored to find an implementation that fulfills all specifications and then optimizes metrics like energy, area, delay, reliability, etc. At run time, a large configuration space needs to be searched to find the best set of parameters (e.g., voltage/frequency) to further optimize the system. Both spaces are infeasible for exhaustive search typically leading to heuristic optimization algorithms that find some tradeoff between design quality and computational overhead. Machine learning (ML) can build powerful models that have successfully been employed in related domains. In this survey, we categorize how ML may be used and is used for design-time and run-time optimization and exploration strategies of ICs. A metastudy of published techniques unveils areas in CAD that are well explored and underexplored with ML, as well as trends in the employed ML algorithms. We present a comprehensive categorization and summary of the state of the art on ML for CAD. Finally, we summarize the remaining challenges and promising open research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A method for fabricating integrated multi-electrodes inside a single sheet of paper. • A paper used in two dimensions used as a three-dimensional scaffold. • The control of the equivalent circuit without changing external circuits and wires. Paper is an excellent substrate for flexible devices due to its various advantages such as flexibility, porosity, lightness, and thinness. Its inherent characteristics can be also exploited to overcome the limitations of conventional substrates, such as weak adhesion and large mass densities. Here, we propose a method for fabricating vertically integrated multi-electrodes within only a single sheet of paper. Despite the randomly distributed fibrous networks in a paper, the multi-layered electrodes were uniformly formed and completely separated by applying a removable hydrophobic wax barrier confinement inside a single sheet of paper. The integrated multi-layer electrodes inside a single sheet of paper mean that conventional two-dimensional planes can be used as three-dimensional scaffolds. The highly integrated electrodes and circuit systems are located within only a sheet of paper, making a new possibility to design maximizing the energy storage performance, integrated circuit systems, and significantly decreasing the thickness of the system without external complex structure. In consequence, this unique platform can circumvent most of the fabrication challenges related to two-dimensional energy storage sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a digital delay locked loop (DLL) with a monotonic delay line (DL). This DLL adopts the calibration mode to reduce the non‐monotonic effects for the coarse‐tuning delay line (CTDL) and the fine‐tuning delay line (FTDL). The calibration mode detects the delay time of the delay unit, the timing resolution of CTDL, to adjust the delay range of the FTDL. Thus, the calibration mode can limit the overlap range of the delay time between the CTDL and the FTDL. The proposed DLL was implemented using a 0.18‐μm CMOS process, and the RMS and the peak‐to‐peak jitters of the DLL were 0.21% and 1.72%, respectively, at 560 MHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a visual management scheme of medical things with a color-change radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. The color-change RFID tag employs a specific RFID tag integrated circuit (IC) and a laminated pH-indicating paper. The IC has energy harvesting and switched ground functions, which enable it to generate electricity to the laminated pH-indicating paper. This phenomenon causes electrolysis of NaCl solution absorbed in the laminated pH-indicating paper. Electrolysis generates alkaline matter to change the color of the pH-indicating paper. This paper gives a new and sensitive structure of the laminated pH-indicating paper. The proposed advanced color-change RFID tag with new laminated pH-indicating paper succeeds in changing its color noticeably at a 1 m distance using an RFID reader radiating 1 W radio waves. The color change was observed 3–5 s after starting radio wave irradiation. The results of this experiment also confirm that the changed color can be held for over 24 h. Furthermore, two demonstrations of the visual management system of medical things (patient clothes and sanitizers) are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contains papers obtained through open call-for-papers as well as from the selected extended versions of the papers presented in the 4th International Conference "2021 Devices for Integrated Circuit (DevIC)", held at Kalyani Government Engineering College from May 19-20, 2021. This special issue publishes a collection of papers that were submitted to the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics on the theme of experimental electronic and optical materials for nano-dimensional device applications. [Extracted from the article]

With the development of electronic technology, semiconductor memory is gradually shifting toward smaller area with less power consumption. SOT-MRAM is one of the competitive substitutes for DRAM and SRAM due to its superior endurance and switching speed. In contrast to STT-MRAM, the separation of read and write routes allows SOT-MRAM to have a lower error rate and higher lifetime, but this comes at the expense of the memory density. In recent years, vertical integrated circuits have relied on TSV to complete 3D stacking to ease the pressure of Moore's Law on scaling circuits. SOT-MRAM can take advantage of 3D stacking to reduce power and latency. More importantly, the density of SOT-MRAM can be improved at the same time. In the paper, simulation is conducted based on DESTINY, with the TSV model supplemented to NVSIM to evaluate the performance of MRAM 3D structures. The 3D SOT-MRAM structure in DESTINY can be implemented with a bus layer and interconnect structure between layers, which greatly reduces the expense of area. However, the 3D structure requires a more complex interconnect structure to truly meet the requirements of high density. For this reason, 3D model of unit interconnection using TSV is presented in the paper. Memory has several components, of which the memory array is the one with the largest area share. This paper explores the spatial structure of the array and proposes a new model which allows more complex interconnect structures to be accomplished on the same area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limits of chip technology are constantly being pushed with the continuous development of integrated circuit manufacturing processes and equipment. Currently, chips contain several billion, and even tens of billions, of transistors, making chip testing increasingly challenging. The verification of very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI) requires testing on specialized automatic test equipment (ATE), but their cost and size significantly limit their applicability. The current FPGA-based ATE is limited in its scalability and support for few test channels and short test vector lengths. As a result, it is only suitable for testing specific chips in small-scale circuits and cannot be used to test VLSI. This paper proposes a low-cost hardware and software solution for testing digital integrated circuits based on design for testability (DFT) on chips, which enables the functional and performance test of the chip. The solution proposed can effectively use the resources within the FPGA to provide additional test channels. Furthermore, the round-robin data transmission mode can also support test vectors of any length and it can satisfy different types of chip test projects through the dynamic configuration of each test channel. The experiment successfully tested a digital signal processor (DSP) chip with 72 scan test pins (theoretically supporting 160 test pins). Compared to our previous work, the work in this paper increases the number of test channels by four times while reducing resource utilization per channel by 37.5%, demonstrating good scalability and versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of semiconductor technology, the reduction in device operating voltage and threshold voltage has made integrated circuits more susceptible to the effects of particle radiation. Moreover, as process sizes decrease, the impact of charge sharing effects becomes increasingly severe, with soft errors caused by single event effects becoming one of the main causes of circuit failures. Therefore, the study of sensitivity evaluation methods for integrated circuits is of great significance for promoting the optimization of integrated circuit design, improving single event effect experimental methods, and enhancing the irradiation reliability of integrated circuits. In this paper, we first established a device model for the charge sharing effect and simulated it under reasonable conditions. Based on the simulation results, we then built a neural network model to predict the charge amounts in primary and secondary devices. We also propose a comprehensive automated method for calculating soft errors in unit circuits and validated it through TCAD simulations, achieving an error margin of 2.8–4.3%. This demonstrated the accuracy and effectiveness of the method we propose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the high speed low power analysis of 12 transistors 2x4 Low Power (LP) and Low Power Inverting (LPI) Decoders by using Dual Value Logic (DVL) and Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Logic. A huge challenge faced by this era of developing is power reduction. The LP circuit design is a requesting issue in high performance digital frameworks, for example, microchips, DSPs and other different applications. Power and speed are the main highlights considered while comparing any design. Diminishing chip area is additionally truly impressive factor, designers need to recall when suggesting any novel design. 2x4 LP and LPI Decoders using 12T (Transistor) is used for conversion of binary inputs to associated output bits in a pattern. A novel design (CMOS logic and DVL logic) of 2x4 LP and LPI Decoders using 12T is proposed with area optimization, LP and high speed in this paper. Delay and power is evaluated between the novel design and CMOS logic. The novel design of 12T LP and LPI 2x4 Decoders is 60.72% optimized for power in contrast to CMOS logic design at a typical value of 1.8V. The proposed method has been validated using Cadence 45 GPDK (Generic Product Design Key) Virtuoso Tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a technique for the wafer-level testing of the gate dielectrics of metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) devices by the high-field injection of electrons into the dielectric using a mode of increasing injection current density up to a set level. This method provides the capability to control a change in the charge state of the gate dielectric during all the testing. The proposed technique makes it possible to assess the integrity of the thin dielectric and at the same time to control the charge effects of its degradation. The method in particular can be used for manufacturing processes to control integrated circuits (ICs) based on MIS structures. In the paper, we propose an advanced algorithm of the Bounded J-Ramp testing of the gate dielectric and receive its approval when monitoring the quality of the gate dielectrics of production-manufactured MIS devices. We found that the maximum value of positive charge obtained when tested by the proposed method was a value close to that obtained when the charge was injected into the dielectric under a constant current with a Bounded J value despite large differences in the rate of degradation of the dielectric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Moore's Law reaches its limits, it has never applied to analog and RF circuits. For example, due to the short channel effect (SCE), drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), and sub-threshold slope (SS)..., longer transistors are required to implement analog cells. From 22 nm CMOS technology and beyond, for reasons of variability, the channel of the transistors has no longer been doped. Two technologies then emerged: FinFET transistors for digital applications and UTBB FDSOI transistors, suitable for analog and mixed applications. In a previous paper, a new topology was proposed utilizing some advantages of the FDSOI technology. Thanks to this technology, a novel cross-coupled back-gate (BG) technique was implemented to improve analog and mixed signal cells in order to reduce the surface of the integrated circuit. This technique was applied to a current mirror to reduce the small channel effect and to provide high-output impedance. It was demonstrated that it is possible to overcompensate the SCE and DIBL effects and to create a negative output resistor. This paper presents a new LC tank oscillator based on this current mirror functioning as a negative resistor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design of an integrated temperature sensor. The sensor was manufactured using the 3 µm CMOS technology. The proportional to absolute temperature sensor output signal was produced by two MOS transistors with biasing and buffering circuits. The sensor output voltage was linearly proportional to the absolute temperature in a wide range of temperature values. The measurement results coincide very well with the results of the process corner analysis. Certain non-linearities occurring at high temperature values are investigated in this paper in more detail. Additionally, the influence of neighboring circuits present in the manufactured integrated circuit on the sensor temperature response is studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical power splitters (OPSs) are utilized extensively in integrated photonic circuits, drawing significant interest in research on power splitters with adjustable splitting ratios. This paper introduces a compact, low-loss 1 × 2 asymmetric multimode interferometric (MMI) optical power splitter on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The device is simulated using the finite difference method (FDM) and eigenmode expansion solver (EME). It is possible to attain various output power splitting ratios by making the geometry of the MMI central section asymmetric relative to the propagation axis. Six distinct optical power splitters are designed with unconventional splitting ratios in this paper, which substantiates that the device can achieve any power splitter ratios (PSRs) in the range of 95:5 to 50:50. The dimensions of the multimode section were established at 2.9 × (9.5–10.9) μm. Simulation results show a range of unique advantages of the device, including a low extra loss of less than 0.4 dB, good fabrication tolerance, and power splitting ratio fluctuation below 3% across the 1500 nm to 1600 nm wavelength span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the study of CMOS IC parameter degradation during reliability testing. The paper presents a review of literature data on the issue of the reliability of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits and the types of failures leading to the degradation of IC parameters. It describes the tests carried out on the reliability of controlled parameters of integrated circuit TPS54332, such as quiescent current, quiescent current in standby mode, resistance of the open key, and instability of the set output voltage in the whole range of input voltages and in the whole range of load currents. The calculated values of activation energies and acceleration coefficients for different test temperature regimes are given. As a result of the work done, sample rejection tests have been carried out on the TPS54332 IC under study. Experimental fail-safe tests were carried out, with subsequent analysis of the chip samples by the controlled parameter quiescent current. On the basis of the obtained experimental values, the values of activation energy and acceleration coefficient at different temperature regimes were calculated. The dependencies of activation energy and acceleration coefficient on temperature were plotted, which show that activation energy linearly increases with increasing temperature, while the acceleration coefficient, on the contrary, decreases. It was also found that the value of the calculated activation energy of the chip is 0.1 eV less than the standard value of the activation energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In integrated circuit (IC) design, floorplanning is an important stage in obtaining the floorplan of the circuit to be designed. Floorplanning determines the performance, size, yield, and reliability of very large-scale integration circuit (VLSI) ICs. The results obtained in this step are necessary for the subsequent continuous processes of chip design. From a computational perspective, VLSI floorplanning is an NP-hard problem, making it difficult to be efficiently solved by classical optimization techniques. In this paper, we propose a deep reinforcement learning floorplanning algorithm based on sequence pairs (SP) to address the placement problem. Reinforcement learning utilizes an agent to explore the search space in sequence pairs to find the optimal solution. Experimental results on the international standard test circuit benchmarks, MCNC and GSRC, demonstrate that the proposed deep reinforcement learning floorplanning algorithm based on sequence pairs can produce a superior solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-destructing chips have promising applications for securing data. This paper proposes a new concept of energetic diodes for the first time, which can be used for self-destructive chips. A simple two-step electrochemical deposition method is used to prepare ZnO/CuO/Al energetic diode, in which N-type ZnO and P-type CuO are constricted to a PN junction. This paper comprehensively discusses the material properties, morphology, semiconductor characteristics, and exploding performances of the energetic diode. Experimental results show that the energetic diode has typical rectification with a turn-on voltage of about 1.78 V and a reverse leakage current of about 3 x 10-4 A. When a constant voltage of 70 V loads to the energetic diode in the forward direction for about 0.14 s or 55 V loads in the reverse direction for about 0.17 s, the loaded power can excite the energetic diode exploding and the current rises to about 100 A. Due to the unique performance of the energetic diode, it has a double function of rectification and explosion. The energetic diode can be used as a logic element in the normal chip to complete the regular operation, and it can release energy to destroy the chip accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous progress in integrated circuit technology, single-event effect (SEE) has become a key factor affecting the reliability of aerospace integrated circuits. Simulating fault injection using the computer simulation technique effectively reflects the SEE in aerospace integrated circuits. Due to various masking effects, only a small number of faults will result in errors; the traditional method of injecting one fault in one workload execution is inefficient. The method of injecting multiple faults in one workload execution will make it impossible to judge which fault results in errors because the propagation characteristic of SEE and faults may affect each other. This paper proposes an improved multi-point fault injection method to improve simulation efficiency and solve the problems of the general multi-point fault injection method. If one workload execution does not result in errors, multiple faults can be verified by one workload execution. If one workload execution results in errors, a specific grouping method can be used to determine which faults result in errors. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a good acceleration effect and significantly improves the simulation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of complex product design, modeling in different fields and different disciplines is often involved. Designers often face many different development kits, platforms, and theories, among which significant differences exist. Especially in the process of algorithm-hardware implementation, it is necessary to have mastery of the knowledge including algorithm, hardware, circuit, and system engineering. In this paper, a modeling method of algorithm-hardware based on SysML is proposed to reduce the difficulty of algorithm-hardware modeling. By using the method, the designers who do not know the knowledge of hardware can also easily build the algorithm-hardware model. In this method, a method of graphical system modeling based on SysML is used, where the elements of the algorithm-hardware model are described by SysML graphical models. Then, the SysML graphical models are converted to Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language. At last, a detecting algorithm of random number is complemented by the modeling method in this paper and the simulation results are presented at the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors (CNT FETs) have been demonstrated to exhibit high performance only through low‐temperature fabrication process and require a low thermal budget to construct monolithic three‐dimensional (M3D) integrated circuits (ICs), which have been considered a promising technology to meet the demands of high‐bandwidth computing and fully functional integration. However, the lack of high‐quality CNT materials at the upper layer and a low‐parasitic interlayer dielectric (ILD) makes the reported M3D CNT FETs and ICs unable to provide the predicted high performance. In this work, we demonstrate a multilayer stackable process for M3D integration of high‐performance aligned carbon nanotube (A‐CNT) transistors and ICs. A low‐κ (~3) interlayer SiO2 layer is prepared from spin‐on‐glass (SOG) through processes with a highest temperature of 220°C, presenting low parasitic capacitance between two transistor layers and excellent planarization to offer an ideal surface for the A‐CNT and device fabrication process. A high‐quality A‐CNT film with a carrier mobility of 650 cm2 V–1 s–1 is prepared on the ILD layer through a clean transfer process, enabling the upper CNT FETs fabricated with a low‐temperature process to exhibit high on‐state current (1 mA μm–1) and peak transconductance (0.98 mS μm–1). The bottom A‐CNT FETs maintain pristine high performance after undergoing the ILD growth and upper FET fabrication. As a result, 5‐stage ring oscillators utilizing the M3D architecture show a gate propagation delay of 17 ps and an active region of approximately 100 μm2, representing the fastest and the most compact M3D ICs to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3D integrated circuit (3D-IC) is garnering significant attention from academia and industry as a key technology leading the post-Moore era, offering new levels of efficiency, power, performance, and form-factor advantages to the semiconductor industry. However, thermal management in 3D-ICs presents a critical challenge that must be overcome to ensure prosperity for this technology. Unlike traditional thermal management solutions that perceive heat generation in 3D-ICs negatively and aim to eliminate it, this paper proposes, for the first time, a thermal management method that positively utilizes heat to achieve low-power operation in 3D-ICs. This approach is based on a novel discovery that circuits can reduce power consumption at higher temperatures by leveraging the temperature effect inversion (TEI) phenomenon in ultralow-voltage (ULV) operating circuits, a characteristic of low-power techniques (TEI-LP techniques). Along with a detailed explanation of this discovery, this paper introduces new thermal management technologies for practical application in 3D-ICs. Furthermore, to achieve optimal energy efficiency with the proposed technology, we develop a temperature controller essential for this purpose. The developed controller is a deep learning-based PID autotuner. This paper proves the theoretical validity of the AI control algorithm designed for this purpose and demonstrates the functional correctness and power-saving effectiveness of the developed controller through intensively conducted simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A physical unclonable function (PUF) is a technology designed to safeguard sensitive information and ensure data security. PUFs generate unique responses for each challenge by leveraging random deviations in the physical microstructures of integrated circuits (ICs), making it incredibly difficult to replicate them. However, traditional silicon PUFs are now susceptible to various attacks, such as modeling attacks using conventional machine learning techniques and reverse engineering strategies. As a result, PUFs based on new materials or methods are being developed to enhance their security. However, in the realm of survey papers, it has come to our attention that there is a notable scarcity of comprehensive summaries and introductions concerning these emerging PUFs. To fill this gap, this article surveys PUFs based on novel technologies in the literature. In particular, we first provide an insightful overview of four types of PUFs that are rooted in advanced technologies: bionic optical PUF, biological PUF, PUF based on printed electronics (PE), and PUF based on memristors. Based on the overview, we further discuss the evaluation results of their performance based on specific metrics and conduct a comparative analysis of their performance. Despite significant progress in areas such as limited entry and regional expertise, it is worth noting that these PUFs still have room for improvement. Therefore, we have identified their potential shortcomings and areas that require further development. Moreover, we outline various applications of PUFs and propose our own future prospects for this technology. To sum up, this article contributes to the understanding of PUFs based on novel technologies by providing an in-depth analysis of their characteristics, performance evaluation, and potential improvements. It also sheds light on the wide range of applications for PUFs and presents enticing prospects for future advancements in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel, cost-effective solution designed to achieve large absorption bandwidth within the THz spectrum employing a miniaturized, single-layer metamaterial structure. The designed structure features a single circular ring composed of an ohmic resistive sheet with notably higher sheet resistance than traditional metallic resonators. This distinctive design is implemented on a lossy dielectric polyimide substrate with a backing of metallic gold. Our developed absorbing structure demonstrates the capability to achieve a substantial absorption bandwidth ranging from 3.78 to 4.25 THz, maintaining a consistent absorption rate of over 90%. Moreover, we conducted an analysis to assess its absorption performance under various sheet resistance values within the top layer. Additionally, we characterized its angular stability and polarization insensitivity through oblique incident and polarization angle analysis. Finally, an RLC circuital and interference theory approach is adopted to justify its simulated results. The proposed absorber shows potential for a broad spectrum of applications, encompassing communication, imaging, and diverse integrated circuits operating within the THz band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the determination of the good-dice-in-bad-neighborhoods (GDBNs) has been regarded as an effective technique to reduce the value of the defect parts per million (DPPM) by identifying and rejecting the suspicious dice even though they are good in testing. Instead of examining eight immediate neighbors in a small-sized $3\times 3$ window or exploiting simple linear regression, a large-sized window can be used to recognize the broad-sighted neighborhoods and accurately infer the suspiciousness level for any given die. In this paper, the artificial neural networks (ANN)-based method can be proposed to solve the GDBN identification. Furthermore, two enhanced techniques can be further presented to improve the inference accuracy of the original ANN-based method by considering the variation of the time-dependent wafer patterns and the wafer-to-wafer relationship between two adjacent wafers. After applying the two enhanced techniques, the business profits can be improved in the new ANN-based method. Various experiments on two datasets clearly reveal the superiority of the proposed ANN-based method over the other existing methods. In addition to the reduction of the DPPM value, the new ANN-based method can achieve the 1.5X–2X better reduction in the cost of the return merchandise authorization (RMA). On the other hand, the experimental results show that the similar result can also be obtained in the other lower-yield products. By using the new ANN-based method, the relationships on bad dice cross wafers can be captured and the highly-accurate inference results can be simultaneously maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the integration of chips in 3D integrated circuits (ICs) increases and the size of micro-bumps reduces, issues with the reliability of service due to electromigration and thermomigration are becoming more prevalent. In the practical application of solder joints, an increase in the grain size of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) has been observed during the reflow process. This phenomenon results in an increased thickness of the IMC layer, accompanied by a proportional increase in the volume of the IMC layer within the joint. The brittle nature of IMC renders it susceptible to excessive growth in small-sized joints, which has the potential to negatively impact the reliability of the welded joint. It is therefore of the utmost importance to regulate the formation and growth of IMCs. The following paper presents the electrodeposition of a Ni-W layer on a Cu substrate, forming a barrier layer. Subsequently, the barrier properties between the Sn/Cu reactive couples were subjected to a comprehensive and systematic investigation. The study indicates that the Ni-W layer has the capacity to impede the diffusion of Sn atoms into Cu. Furthermore, the Ni-W layer is a viable diffusion barrier at the Sn/Cu interface. The "bright layer" Ni2WSn4 can be observed in all Ni-W coatings during the soldering reflow process, and its growth was almost linear. The structure of the Ni-W layer is such that it reduces the barrier properties that would otherwise be inherent to it. This is due to the "bright layer" Ni2WSn4 that covers the original Ni-W barrier layer. At a temperature of 300 °C for a duration of 600 s, the Ni-W barrier layer loses its blocking function. Once the "bright layer" Ni2WSn4 has completely covered the original Ni-W barrier layer, the diffusion activation energy for Sn diffusion into the Cu substrate side will be significantly reduced, particularly in areas where the distortion energy is concentrated due to electroplating tension. Both the "bright layer" Ni2WSn4 and Sn will grow rapidly, with the formation of Cu-Sn intermetallic compounds (IMCs). At temperatures of 250 °C, the growth of Ni3Sn4-based IMCs is controlled by grain boundaries. Conversely, the growth of the Ni2WSn4 layer (consumption of Ni-W layer) is influenced by a combination of grain boundary diffusion and bulk diffusion. At temperatures of 275 °C and 300 °C, the growth of Ni3Sn4-based IMCs and the Ni2WSn4 layer (consumption of Ni-W layer) are both controlled by grain boundaries. The findings of this study can inform the theoretical design of solder joints with barrier layers as well as the selection of Ni-W diffusion barrier layers for use in different soldering processes. This can, in turn, enhance the reliability of microelectronic devices, offering significant theoretical and practical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a great deal of interest has been focused on developing sensors that can measure both pressure and light. However, traditional sensors are difficult to integrate into silicon (Si)-based integrated circuits. Therefore, it is particularly important to design a sensor that operates on a new principle. In this paper, junction piezotronic transistor (JPT) arrays based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire are demonstrated. And the JPT arrays show high spatial resolution pressure and light mapping with 195 dpi. Because ZnO nanowires are arranged vertically above the p-type Si channel's center of the transistor, the width of the heterojunction depletion region is constricted by the positive piezoelectric potential generated by strained ZnO. In addition, photogenerated charge carriers can be created in the Si channel when JPT is stimulated by light, which increases its electrical conductivity. Consequently, the external pressure and light distribution information can be obtained from the variation in the output current of the device. The prepared JPT arrays can be compatible with Si transistors, which make them highly competitive and make it possible to incorporate both pressure and light sensors into large integrated circuits. This work will contribute to many applications, such as intelligent clothing, human–computer interaction, and electronic skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing efficient narrow-band near-infrared photodetectors integrated on silicon for telecommunications remains a significant challenge in silicon photonics. This paper proposes a novel silicon-based hot-electron photodetector employing Tamm plasmons (Si-based TP-HE PD) for narrow-band near-infrared photodetection. The device combines a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) structure, an Au layer, and a silicon substrate with a back electrode. Simulation results show that the absorption of the TP device with a back electrode is 1.5 times higher than without a back electrode, due to increased absorption from multiple reflections between the back electrode and the 1DPC structure. Experimentally, the responsivity of the fabricated device reaches 0.195 mA/W at a wavelength of 1400 nm. A phenomenological model was developed to analyze the photoelectric conversion mechanism, revealing reasonable agreement between the theoretically calculated and experimentally measured internal quantum efficiencies. Additional experiments and simulations demonstrate the tunability of the resonance wavelength from 1200 nm to 1700 nm by adjusting structural parameters. The Si-based TP-HE PD shows potential for silicon-based optoelectronic applications, offering the advantages of a simple structure, low cost, and compatibility with silicon photonic integrated circuits. This work represents the first demonstration of a silicon-based hot electron NIR photodetector utilizing Tamm plasmons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing demand for high-speed data transmission in telecommunications and data centers has driven the development of advanced on-chip integrated electro-optic modulators. Silicon modulators, constrained by the relatively weak carrier dispersion effect, face challenges in meeting the stringent requirements of next-generation photonic integrated circuits. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in Pockels effect-based electro-optic modulators, leveraging ferroelectric materials like LiNbO3, BaTiO3, PZT, and LaTiO3. Attributed to the large first-order electro-optic coefficient, researchers have delved into developing modulators with expansive bandwidth, low power consumption, compact size, and linear response. This paper reviews the working principles, fabrication techniques, integration schemes, and recent highlights in Pockels effect-based modulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the traditional silicon-based CMOS technology advances into the nanoscale stage, approaching its physical limits, the Carbon Nanotube Field-effect Transistor (CNTFET) is considered to be the most significant transistor technology beyond Moore's era. The CNTFET has a quasi-one-dimensional structure so that the carrier can realize ballistic transport and has very high mobility. At the same time, a single CNTFET can integrate hundreds of nanowires as the conductive channels, enabling significant current transport capabilities even in low supply voltage, thereby providing a foundational basis for achieving nanoscale ultra-large-scale analog/logic circuits. This paper summarizes the development status of the CNTFET compact model and digital/analog/RF integrated circuits. The challenges faced by SPICE modeling and circuit design are analyzed. Meanwhile, solutions to these challenges and development trends of carbon-based transistors are discussed. Finally, the future application prospects of carbon-based integrated circuits are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the influence of temperature on the scattering mechanism of multilayer graphene nanoribbon (MLGNR). A thermally aware electrical ESC model along with mathematical computations is presented for evaluating the parasitic and reports the performance analysis dependent on temperature of the MLGNR at global interconnect length for 16 nm, 22 nm, and 32 nm nodes of technology in terms of power dissipation, delay, and power delay product (PDP). It was examined that with rising temperature, there is a strident decrease in the mean free path of GNR interconnect, which further influence its own resistance at variable global lengths (500‒2000 μm) for all three technology nodes. The simulation program with integrated circuit (SPICE) emphasis simulation tool is used to estimate and compare the performance of MLGNR in terms of power dissipation, signal delay and PDP for three different nodes of technology. It is revealed from the outcomes that the propagation delay and PDP increase at long interconnects (2000 μm) over a temperature range of 200 to 500 K for deep submicron technology nodes (16, 22, and 32 nm). Further, based on ITRS 2013, the analytical and simulated results are obtained at global interconnect length (2000 μm) for 16 nm technology node in the 200–500 K temperature range of MLGNR. The simulation and analytical results show that the outcomes of the two models are very similar. The models' trends show an increase in delay with increasing temperature levels (200‒500 K) 16 nm technology node. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon photonic waveguide resonators, such as microring resonators, photonic crystal waveguide cavities, and Fabry–Perot resonators based on the distributed Bragg reflectors, are key device components for silicon-based photonic integrated circuits (Si-PIC). For the Si-PIC with high integration density, the device footprints of the conventional photonic waveguide resonators need to be more compact. Inverse design, which is operated by the design expectation and different from the conventional design methods, has been investigated for reducing the photonic device components nowadays. In this paper, we inversely designed the silicon photonic waveguide reflectors for two target wavelengths: one is 1310 nm and the other is 1550 nm. The silicon photonic waveguide reflectors have reflectance of 0.99993 and 0.9955 for the wavelength of 1310 nm and 1550 nm each with 5-μm-long reflectors. Also, we theoretically investigated Fabry–Perot resonators based on the inversely designed photonic waveguide reflectors. Q factors of the Fabry–Perot resonators have been calculated to be 1.3 × 105 for the wavelength of 1310 nm and 2583 for the wavelength of 1550 nm. We have expected that the inversely designed photonic waveguide reflectors and their applications for the Fabry–Perot resonators can be utilized for compact passive/active device components such as wavelength filters, modulators, and external cavity lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric loss of Cu with high thermal conductivity is large at high frequency, which cannot meet the performance requirements in high-integrated circuits. There is an urgent need for materials to reduce its dielectric loss. In this paper, the thermal conductivity and dielectric properties of the AlN coating-Cu substrate system were controlled by changing the N2 pressure. The results showed that the crystallinity of hcp-AlN in AlN coating increased significantly when the proportion of N2 pressure was increased. With the increase of the N2 pressure, the particle size on the surface and the roughness of the coating improved. The AlN coating prepared at high N2 pressure had high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss at high frequency compared to those of the coatings prepared at low N2 pressure. At the same time, the AlN coating prepared under high N2 pressure on the Cu substrate did not decrease the thermal conductivity of Cu substrate. The AlN-Cu system prepared in this paper had high thermal conductivity and good dielectric properties, providing theoretical guidance for integrated circuit packaging and capacitor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high‐voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission short‐circuit fault protection is a big challenge, and it is the main obstacle to promote the HVDC multi‐terminal networks. A natural commutation current topology (NCCT) of hybrid HVDC circuit breaker (DCCB) integrated with limiting fault current is proposed in this paper, which shares several obvious merits, such as lower peak fault current, shorter fault isolation time and low turn‐off loss. The main contributions in this paper are made as follows. (1). A second‐order RLC circuit in novel NCCT circuit breaker is utilized as the current limiting circuit to dramatically reduce the fault current rising slope and its peak value. (2) A asynchronous NCCT circuit breaker has been investigated to broaden the proposed NCCT circuit breaker's optimal working area. (3) By taking China Zhangbei 500 kV four‐terminal DC grid as an example, an optimization design technique of the asynchronous NCCT‐DCCB is developed to demonstrate the process of the theoretical analysis and parameter design. The correctness of the proposed NCCT‐DCCB and the feasibility of the optimization design technique are confirmed by EMT simulation on PSCAD/EMTDC and hardware‐in‐loop experiment on PLECS‐RtBox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing congratulates Yonghwi Kwon and Youngsoo Shin whose paper Optical Proximity Correction Using Bidirectional Recurrent Neural Network With Attention Mechanism was selected as the Best paper for 2021. The paper was selected from all the papers that appeared in 2021 by a team of Associate Editors. This paper applied recurrent neural networks to optical proximity correction for lithographic processing for integrated circuits. The challenge in determining a correction value comes from correlation: correction of one segment affects the correction value of other segments due to the optical proximity effect. This paper broke new ground by showing that Recurrent Neural Networks, which has been mainly applied to time series data, can be effectively applied to spatial data. Clearly, Machine Learning is rapidly moving from R&D into full flow manufacturing where the interplay between each aspect of a single process step has exponential increased in complexity requiring new approaches. Three additional papers were recognized with an Honorable Mention: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the design of power management integrated circuits for the energy harvesting of ultrasound waves in implanted biomedical devices is addressed. In particular, the paper focuses on the main building block of the power conversion stage which is represented by the AC/DC converter. After an in-depth analytical description of cross-coupled passive and active rectifiers, a detailed design procedure for the common-gate comparator is introduced. Then a comparison between the different discussed topologies is carried through simulation results using a 28-nm standard CMOS technology. The results provide useful design guidelines in choosing the best topology according to the design specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The piezoelectric coupling principle is widely used (along with capacitive coupling and piezoresistive coupling) for MEMS accelerometers. Piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers are used primarily for vibration monitoring. Polymer piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers offer the merits of heavy-metal-free structure material and simple microfabrication flow. More importantly, polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers may be the basis of novel applications, such as fully organic inertial sensing microsystems using polymer sensors and organic integrated circuits. This paper presents a novel polymer piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer design using PVDF films. A simple and rapid microfabrication flow based on laser micromachining of thin films and 3D stereolithography was developed to fabricate three samples of this design. During proof-of-concept experiments, the design achieved a sensitivity of 21.82 pC/g (equivalent open-circuit voltage sensitivity: 126.32 mV/g), a 5% flat band of 58.5 Hz, and a noise density of 6.02 µg/√Hz. Thus, this design rivals state-of-the-art PZT-based counterparts in charge sensitivity and noise density, and it surpasses the performance capabilities of several commercial MEMS accelerometers. Moreover, this design has a 10-times smaller device area and a 4-times larger flat band than previous state-of-the-art organic piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers. These experimentally validated performance metrics demonstrate the promising application potential of the polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer design presented in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the high dynamic voltage or current range measuring in real-time in the modern electrical industry, ranging from the surface science to non-destructive testing, this paper reports two broad dynamic ranging, universal, and compact digital lock-in amplifier methods for the huge dynamic range signal, termed as the hybrid and all-digital amplifiers. Both have reduced the complex components required in the traditional amplifiers to only two or three components without sacrificing the measuring accuracy, even by less than 0.05% in some situations, which has been evaluated via simulations and experiments with the FPGA circuit. Additionally, benefiting from the single-power supply strategy, the proposed methods are suitable for portable devices, including the pocket spectrometer, mechanical resonator monitor, and powered on battery. Such results in this paper illustrate the phase coherent technology with a compact, universal, and integrated circuit with a promising future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design methods are presented for chip pulses and a constant envelope multiplexing (CEM) scheme for a new navigation satellite system in the S band. If we assume three equal-power signals are needed to transmit, the chip pulses of at least two signals can have two or more sample magnitudes for a high CEM power efficiency. Considering a case with two dual-magnitude signals, we can find the magnitude values for a target efficiency and then design the magnitude and sign patterns. We analyze the interference for all possible chip pulse sets and sorted them according to selected priorities. We also consider spectral separation between two different signal groups for a flexible operation. The design methods and the results provided in this paper can be a good reference for the signal design of a new navigation satellite system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA has been discussed as a potential medium for data storage. Potentially it could be denser, could consume less energy, and could be more durable than conventional storage media such as hard drives, solid-state storage, and optical media. However, performing computations on the data stored in DNA is a largely unexplored challenge. This paper proposes an integrated circuit (IC) based on microfluidics that can perform complex operations such as artificial neural network (ANN) computation on data stored in DNA. We envision such a system to be suitable for highly dense, throughput-demanding bio-compatible applications such as an intelligent Organ-on-Chip or other biomedical applications that may not be latency-critical. It computes entirely in the molecular domain without converting data to electrical form, making it a form of in-memory computing on DNA. The computation is achieved by topologically modifying DNA strands through the use of enzymes called nickases. A novel scheme is proposed for representing data stochastically through the concentration of the DNA molecules that are nicked at specific sites. The paper provides details of the biochemical design, as well as the design, layout, and operation of the microfluidics device. Benchmarks are reported on the performance of neural network computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated circuits are being more and more extensively applied, and the reliability issues of devices are receiving increased attention from researchers. The study of electronic device performance is not limited to the device themselves; these studies also need to consider the operating environment, such as high temperature or high humidity, which requires fluid simulation. However, this approach inevitably increases the complexity of modeling and the difficulty of the equations to be solved. Aiming at the simulation of the thermal performance of a device under coupled humid air conditions, this paper proposes a surrogate model to quickly evaluate the multiphysical effects of humid air and a multiphysical solver based on it. In this research, the finite element method (FEM) is utilized to simulate the multiphysical problem, and the proposed method is verified as being efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bonding distance is defined by the projected distance on a substrate plane between two solder points of a bonding wire, which can directly affect the morphology of the bonding wire and the performance between internal components of the chip. For the inspection of the bonding distance, it is necessary to accurately recognize gold wires and solder points within the complex imagery of the chip. However, bonding wires at arbitrary angles and small-sized solder points are densely distributed across the complex background of bonding images. These characteristics pose challenges for conventional image detection and deep learning methods to effectively recognize and measure the bonding distances. In this paper, we present a novel method to measure bonding distance using a hierarchical measurement structure. First, we employ an image acquisition device to capture surface images of integrated circuits and use multi-layer convolution to coarsely locate the bonding region and remove redundant background. Second, we apply a multi-branch wire bonding inspection network for detecting bonding spots and segmenting gold wire. This network includes a fine location branch that utilizes low-level features to enhance detection accuracy for small bonding spots and a gold wire segmentation branch that incorporates an edge branch to effectively extract edge information. Finally, we use the bonding distance measurement module to develop four types of gold wire distribution models for bonding spot matching. Together, these modules create a fully automated method for measuring bonding distances in integrated circuits. The effectiveness of the proposed modules and overall framework has been validated through comprehensive experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is explained, in introduction of this paper, why the description of the output signal at an A/D converter in the form that is presented in such respected textbooks as: a one written by Prandoni and Vetterli, and another one by van de Plassche is appropriate and correct. Unlike all others, especially those using in it the so-called comb of Dirac deltas. The latter ones do not lead to getting a correct formula for the spectrum of the output waveform of an A/D converter, or they yield no formula at all. Using the description of the A/D output signal in form of a step function (as in the textbooks mentioned above), a new, correct formula for calculating the spectrum of the sampled signal is derived in this paper. It is a revised version of the formula currently used in the literature, that is of the so-called Discrete-Time Fourier Transform (DTFT), and it is a product of this DTFT and a certain correction factor. Finally, some literature items are referred to in which the designers of integrated circuits (containing A/D converters) point out discrepancies that arise in designs when the multiplying factor mentioned above is not taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]