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Mitigating Process Variability and Soft Errors at Circuit-Level for FinFETs

  • Explains how to measure the influence of process variability (e.g. work-function fluctuations) and radiation-induced soft errors in FinFET logic cells
  • Enables designers to improve the robustness of FinFET integrated circuits without focusing on manufacturing adjustments
  • Discusses the benefits and downsides of using circuit-level approaches such as transistor reordering, decoupling cells, Schmitt Trigger, and sleep transistor for mitigating the impact of process variability and soft errors
  • Evaluates the techniques described in the context of different test scenarios: distinct levels of process variations, transistor sizing, and different radiation features
  • Helps readers identify the best circuit design considering the target application and design requirements like area constraints or power/delay limitations

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 1-6
  3. FinFET Technology

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 7-27
  4. Reliability Challenges in FinFETs

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 29-63
  5. Circuit-Level Mitigation Approaches

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 65-71
  6. Evaluation Methodology

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 73-79
  7. Process Variability Mitigation

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 81-105
  8. Soft Error Mitigation

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 107-114
  9. General Trade-Offs

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 115-124
  10. Final Remarks

    • Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis
    Pages 125-127
  11. Back Matter

    Pages 129-131

About this book

This book evaluates the influence of process variations (e.g. work-function fluctuations) and radiation-induced soft errors in a set of logic cells using FinFET technology, considering the 7nm technological node as a case study. Moreover, for accurate soft error estimation, the authors adopt a radiation event generator tool (MUSCA SEP3), which deals both with layout features and electrical properties of devices.  The authors also explore four circuit-level techniques (e.g. transistor reordering, decoupling cells, Schmitt Trigger, and sleep transistor) as alternatives to attenuate the unwanted effects on FinFET logic cells. This book also evaluates the mitigation tendency when different levels of process variation, transistor sizing, and radiation particle characteristics are applied in the design. An overall comparison of all methods addressed by this work is provided allowing to trace a trade-off between the reliability gains and the design penalties of each approach regardingthe area, performance, power consumption, single event transient (SET) pulse width, and SET cross-section.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

    Alexandra Zimpeck

  • Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Cristina Meinhardt

  • ONERA/DPHY University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    Laurent Artola

  • Inst de Informatica, Bloco IV, CP15064, Univ Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Ricardo Reis

About the authors

Alexandra Zimpeck received the Computer Engineering degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, Brazil, in 2013, and the Master degree in Computer Science, option Microelectronics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2016. She received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, option Microelectronics from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, and also the Ph.D. degree in Micro and Nano Systems from Toulouse University, Toulouse, France, 2019. She has been a Professor with the Catholic University of Pelotas (UCPel) since 2020. She was a researcher at ONERA, The French Aerospace Lab, Toulouse, France. She develops research in the areas of microelectronics, nanotechnology, and embedded systems, focusing mainly on the reliability topics such as the investigation and mitigation of process variability effects and radiation-induced soft errors in emergent technologies. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 papers in journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters.

 

Cristina Meinhardt is Adjunct Professor at Federal University of Santa Catarina - UFSC.  She holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), a Master's and a PhD in Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).  She develops research in the areas of computational systems architectures, microelectronics, nanotechnology, embedded systems and development of EDA tools, with the main focus in the area of mitigation of the effects of variability and radiation faults. She is a Senior Member of IEEE and member of IEEE CASS, SBC and SBMicro.

 

Laurent Artola (MSEE 2007, Ph.D. EE 2011) is a research engineer at ONERA since 2012. His researches are focus on radiations effects in devices and integrated circuits, modeling and characterization of Single Event Effects and total ionization dose.He received the best ONERA physics PhD award and the best PhD presentation award. He is regularly involved in radiations R&D projects for space applications. He has served the radiation effects and microelectronics reliability communities as reviewers, session chairman, and member of the award comity for the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC) and Space Radiation Effects in Components and Systems (RADECS) European conference. Laurent serves as reviewers in more than ten journals. He has authored and co-authored more than 30 papers, including one best paper award at RADECS conference paper.

 

Ricardo Reis (M’81–SM’06) received the Electrical Engineering degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1978, and the Ph.D. degree in informatics, option microelectronics from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, in 1983. He received the Doctor Honoris Causa from University ofMontpellier, France, in 2016. He has been a Full Professor with UFRGS since 1981. He is at research level 1A of the CNPq (Brazilian National Science Foundation), Brasília, Brazil, and the Head of several research projects supported by government agencies and industry. He has published over 600 papers in journals and conference proceedings and authored or co-authored several books. His current research interests include physical design, physical design automation, design methodologies, digital design, EDA, circuits tolerant to radiation, and microelectronics education. Prof. Reis was a recipient of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) Meritorious Service Award 2015. He was the Vice President of the IEEE CASS representing Region 9 (Latin America) and Brazilian Computer Society (SBC). He is the Chair of IFIP TC10. He has also organized several international conferences. He was a member of the CASS Distinguished Lecturer Program 2014–2015. He is member of the IEEE CASS BoG (2018-2020).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Mitigating Process Variability and Soft Errors at Circuit-Level for FinFETs

  • Authors: Alexandra Zimpeck, Cristina Meinhardt, Laurent Artola, Ricardo Reis

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68368-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-68367-2Published: 11 March 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-68370-2Published: 11 March 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-68368-9Published: 10 March 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 131

  • Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 86 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Circuits and Systems, Electronic Circuits and Devices

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access