Industry Expert Blogs

In this, the fifth instalment of the "Let's Talk PVT Monitoring" series I chat with Oliver King about monitoring in-chip conditions in modern SoCs and this time we discuss process detection and variability. As Moortec’s CTO, Oliver has been leading the development of compelling in-chip monitoring solutions to address problems associated with ever-shrinking System-on-Chip (SoC) process geometries. An analogue and mixed signal design engineer with over a decade of experience in low power design, Oliver is now heading up the expansion of Moortec's IP portfolio into new products on advanced nodes.

Questions:

1. What do we mean by process variation?

Process variation is a complex subject which covers a range of effects, but broadly we can consider that the effects are caused by imperfections in the manufacturing process. Examples are implant variations, mask misalignments, and optical variations. These all add up to give statistical variation on the ideal or “typical” transistor.

However, the mechanisms and causes of the variation are not particularly our concern. What we are interested in is being able to measure in a meaningful way where a particular piece of silicon is within the defined process space for the technology being utilised.

Because ultimately, the measurement of process is being used to assist with optimising performance, we relate process to speed and in advanced nodes this comes down to MOS device speed, and the parasitics of the interconnect.

2. Why is process variability becoming an advanced node issue?

Process variability has always been an issue and the design process has taken account of the variability, often by designing for worst case. Whilst this is still possible, doing so is eroding a larger proportion of the gains made by migrating to an advanced node and when this is coupled with additional sensitivities to supply voltage (an effect of the dropping of core supplies) we are at a point now where process variation and specifically, designing for worst case, is too high.

Furthermore, with the advent of FinFET processes, and the fabrication methods to allow for the densities seen on current leading nodes, the process variation is manifesting itself in different ways. Due to the limited availability of production data on these nodes it is too early to say we fully understand process variation.

3. How do you use the data?

There are a range of applications for making use of process data. The first is using the data for performance optimisation. The simplest implementation of this is speed binning devices. A more detailed performance optimisation is to use this process data to optimise that die with a DVFS optimisation process. This can either be once, to take process into account, or could be used over time to account for temperature and even ageing. It is possible, for example, to reduce power consumption to achieve a desired speed of operation. It is also possible to take process variation across a die into account, which is being done in large SoCs today.

Another application is in detecting ageing of a chip. This can be either as part of performance optimisation, as described above, or to predict device failure.

4. How does this relate to other in-chip conditions?

Ultimately process, voltage, and temperature are all interrelated because they all determine how fast a chip will work, or how much power it will burn for a given task. By having accurate measurements of all three allows SoC designers to take advantage of the performance which would otherwise be left as margin.

About the interviewee

Oliver King is the Chief Technology Officer of Moortec Semiconductor. Before joining Moortec in 2012, Oliver was part of the analogue design methodology team at Dialog Semiconductor and prior to that was a senior design engineer at Toumaz Technology. Oliver graduated from The University of Surrey in 2003 with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

About Moortec Semiconductor

Moortec Semiconductor, established in 2005, provide high quality analog and mixed-signal Intellectual Property (IP) solutions world-wide specialising in die monitoring. Having a track record of delivery to tier-1 semiconductor and product companies, Moortec provide a quick and efficient path to market for customer products and innovations. For more information, please visit www.moortec.com.