Effect of CMOS technology scaling on thermal management during burn-in

Burn-in is a quality improvement procedure challenged by the high leakage currents that are rapidly increasing with IC technology scaling. These currents are expected to increase even more under the new burn-in environments leading to higher junction temperatures, possible thermal runaway, and yield loss during burn-in. The authors estimate the increase in junction temperature with technology scaling. Their research shows that under normal operating conditions, the junction temperature is increasing 1.45×/generation. The increase in junction temperature under the burn-in condition was found to be exponential. The range of optimal burn-in voltage and temperature is reduced significantly with technology scaling.