Tekmos Talks
A Newsletter for the Semiconductor Industry
 September 2014
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Welcome to Tekmos Talks
September. We will be discussing "Reliability Studies", introduce two new products, and talk about upcoming events.
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From the Desk of the President, Lynn Reed
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Long Term Reliability Studies
Tekmos makes a wide variety of parts, and as a result, it can be complicated to compare reliability results over different parts. To address this, we incorporate a common reliability monitor into most of the parts we make. This monitor is designed to detect small changes over time due to the most common reliability problems. Specifically we are looking for threshold shifts due to either hot electron injection or DC bias. We detect the shift by measuring the frequency of an embedded ring oscillator. If a threshold shift occurs, the ring oscillator will change frequency, and that can be detected and measured.
We connect a number of individually addressable microcontrollers on a board. We then communicate with the board while it is in the oven, and have each processor measure the frequency of the various ring oscillators in the reliability monitor. The results are reported and stored on an external computer. This article will talk about two studies we are doing on our 0.6u process.
This is a plot showing the individual frequency measurements made on 3 sets of ring oscillators, in 77 devices, over 2500 hours and at 125C. The key thing to note is that after this time, there have been no long-term changes in the measurements.
There are times when all ring oscillators are running faster. This is because we share our ovens between reliability experiments and production dehydration bakes. Occasionally, our measurements coincide with the loading of the ovens with production material. When that happens, the oven temperature temporarily drops, and the lower temperature causes the ring oscillators to run faster.
The upper band of readings comes from a ring oscillator that is made from inverters. It is constantly running, and is looking for threshold shifts due to hot-electron injection. The middle and lower bands represent ring oscillators made of NAND and NOR gates, respectively. These ring oscillators are normally off, and are only turned on for measurement. Being off, they have a DC bias on their gates most of the time, and are used to look for threshold changes over time due to bias. This would measure the presence of contaminates in the oxide.
This plot shows the same information as the above plot, except that the oven temperature is 190C. We are doing the high temperature testing for down-hole applications in the oil industry that requires these temperatures. As a side benefit, the oil studies provide excellent qualification data for parts operating at lower temperatures. All of the above reliability data are based on our 0.6u process. We use this process in our 68XX microcontrollers and in many military circuits. We also collect similar data for our 0.35u and our 1.0u SOI processes. While many reliability experiments run for only 1000 hours, we plan to continue collecting data this type of data for at least a year (8000 hours), and perhaps longer, depending on the availability of oven space.
To Read More...
For more information on inventory sales or orders, please contact Bob Abrams, Vice President of Sales & Development
or call 512-342-9871
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New Product Launch by Richard Stallkamp
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 The Tekmos 80C186 series has been carefully designed to duplicate the original 80C186 in all aspects except for co-processor support. The TK80C186EC and TK80C188EC will work correctly at either 3 or 5 volts. The original Intel parts were sorted by minimum operating voltage to select parts for the "L" series. With today's improved process control, it is possible for all Tekmos parts to operate at both 3 and 5 volts. Orders for the "L" series will be filled with "C" parts. The TK80C186EC is available in 100 pin PQFP. They are direct, pin for pin, replacements for the S80C186EC. The availability of the TK80C186EC and the TK80C188EC are additions to the already available TK80C186EB and TK80C188EB. These additions to the TK80C186 line of microprocessors join the 80C51, 78HC05 and 68HC11 microprocessors already in
production at Tekmos. To Read More... For more information contact Sales@Tekmos.com or call 512-342-9871.
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Tekmos Travels to Geothermal Energy Expo 2014
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 Tekmos executives will attend the Geothermal Energy Expo in Portland, Oregon September 28 thru October 1, 2014. The Geothermal Energy Expo, in its 38 thyear, is the world's largest gathering of vendors providing support for geothermal resource exploration, characterization, development, production and management. Tekmos is looking forward to the opportunity to showcase its high temperature state of the art "Hot chip" technology to the geothermal community.
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. The geothermal energy of the Earth's crust originates from the original formation of the planet (20%) and from radioactive decay of minerals (80%). The geothermal gradient, which is the difference in temperature between the core of the planet and its surface, drives a continuous conduction of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface. The adjective geothermal originates from the Greek roots γη (ge), meaning earth, and θερμος (thermos), meaning hot. (Wikipedia)
Iceland is a pioneer to the rest of the world in the use of geothermal energy for space heating largely due to the high concentration of volcanoes. Geothermal power facilities currently generate 25% of the country's total electricity production.
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We appreciate our customers. Tekmos is meeting innovation every day for tomorrow's challenges.
Sincerely,
Lynn Reed, President
 4120 Commercial Center Drive, Suite 400Austin, TX 78744Phone: (512) 342-9871Fax: (512) 342-9873
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