SIMOX circuit reliability

SIMOX SOI materials have the capability to support fabrication of a wide range of large area, high performance, radiation hardened, integrated circuits. Continuous improvements in the quality of SIMOX materials has been demonstrated on a number of DoD programs, and a steady progression of devices from 16 K SRAM complexity to 1 M SRAM complexity have been produced. Even with the outstanding progress demonstrated in fabrication, the reliability of devices produced on SIMOX materials has not been extensively discussed. Of particular interest is the reliability effects of the SIMOX buried oxide, because of the unique processes used in its formation, and the previous identification of various types of defects which may be present. This paper presents reliability data on devices fabricated on SIMOX substrates, as reviewing on-going reliability evaluations of the SIMOX buried oxide itself. Data on circuit reliability testing at several rad-hard IC manufacturers are used to document the ability of SIMOX based devices to meet stringent military reliability qualification requirements. Evaluation of failures in the reliability testing show that the failure modes for SIMOX devices are much the same as for bulk devices. No new failure modes have been found that can be associated with the presence of the buried oxide