Thin Film Nickel-Chromium Resistor Failures in Integrated Circuits

Radiation hardened integrated circuits of the Quad NAND Gate type were evaluated using both standard high temperature stress tests and specially designed low temperature tests. As a result of this program, effective methods were devised for accelerating the major failure mechanism, i.e., electrochemical attack of thin film nichrome resistors. The basic chemical and structural factors contributing to this mechanism were investigated using electron beam microanalysis techniques. Based upon the results of these studies, methods are proposed for minimizing the effects of this failure mechanism for this class of circuits.