Reliability, Characterization & Modelling

Reliability, Characterization & Modelling: Semiconductor Reliability Physics & Qualification, Failure Analysis, ESD Handling & Lab Safety, Device Characterization: I–V, C–V & Parameter Extraction, SPICE Semiconductor Models & Simulation.

• Semiconductor Reliability Physics & Qualification — How and when devices wear out. Learn reliability definitions (failure rate, FIT, MTTF/MTBF, confidence levels), the bathtub curve (infant mortality, random failures, wear-out), Weibull and lognormal distributions, acceleration models (Arrhenius, voltage/field, Coffin-Manson for thermal cycling, Peck for humidity), failure mechanisms — electromigration, stress migration, TDDB, HCI, NBTI/PBTI, gate-oxide breakdown, solder fatigue, bond-wire lift-off, corrosion and moisture, thermal cycling — and qualification (JEDEC HTOL, HAST, TC, power cycling, ESD and latch-up tests; AEC-Q100/Q101/Q200; RoHS/REACH) and what they do and don't guarantee — with Python computing an HTOL FIT bound, Arrhenius acceleration, Weibull wear-out and NBTI drift.
• Failure Analysis, ESD Handling & Lab Safety — Finding out why devices died — and not killing them in the first place. Learn failure modes (opens, shorts, leakage, parametric drift, breakdown, thermal and package failures) and the failure-analysis flow (electrical verification, curve tracing, optical/X-ray inspection, acoustic microscopy, thermal/emission microscopy, decapsulation, cross-sectioning, SEM/EDX), ESD physics and models (HBM, CDM, historical MM, IEC 61000-4-2 system level), ESD-safe workstations, wrist straps, grounding and packaging, moisture sensitivity levels and baking, and laboratory safety with semiconductors (high voltage, stored energy, laser safety, hot surfaces, batteries, power-device explosions, safe probing, isolation, PPE, discharge procedures) — with Python computing ESD currents/energies and capacitor-bank discharge times.
• Device Characterization: I–V, C–V & Parameter Extraction — Measuring devices and turning data into models. Learn instruments (SMUs, parameter analysers, probe stations, LCR meters, curve tracers, oscilloscopes, thermal chambers), I–V (forward, reverse, breakdown, pulsed I–V to avoid self-heating), C–V (MOS and junction), Kelvin connections and guarding, temperature sweeps, and extraction of diode I_S/n/R_s, BJT β and V_A, MOSFET V_T (max-g_m extrapolation, constant current), mobility, R_DS(on), subthreshold swing, doping from 1/C², oxide thickness, contact resistance (TLM) — with Python extracting parameters from synthetic noisy diode data, a MOSFET transfer curve and C–V data, and comparing with the true values.
• SPICE Semiconductor Models & Simulation — Semiconductor devices inside the simulator. Learn what a compact model is, the SPICE diode model (IS, N, RS, CJO, VJ, M, TT, BV, IBV, EG, XTI) and its temperature scaling, the BJT Gummel-Poon model, MOSFET model levels (Level 1 square law to BSIM3/4, BSIM-CMG for FinFETs, EKV), power-device and vendor subcircuit models, behavioural models, analyses (DC, AC, transient, noise, temperature, Monte Carlo, worst case), model limitations and validation against measurement, convergence tips, and the simulation tools (LTspice, ngspice, PSpice, QSPICE, KiCad, Multisim) — with Python reproducing SPICE diode temperature scaling for a 1N4148-like model and a Monte Carlo threshold-voltage analysis.