Gilson Wirth

At nanometer scale device dimensions, factors that lead to integrated circuit performance variations from one instant in time to another become increasingly significant. Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) is one of the relevant time-dependent variability sources. The random properties of many defects (charge traps) in large devices average out, resulting in small variation among devices, while the stochastic nature of the few defects found in deeply scaled devices becomes apparent, resulting in large variation among devices. Different instances of a same circuit, such as a simple inverter, will have different number of traps, each one with its own stochastic behavior, leading to variability among devices. It may be seen as a time dependent mismatch, a mismatch that may be different at different instants in time. It leads to the synchronization of signals changing over time, what can be seen as signal jittering. This can be particularly critical for circuits that rely on fine synchronization between signals propagating along different paths. To illustrate the behavior, the case of clock generation and distribution is discussed. It highlights the need for the proper statistical modeling of charge trapping.

Biography:

Gilson I. Wirth received the B.S.E.E and M.Sc. degrees from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 1990 and 1994, respectively. In 1999 he received the Dr.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany. He is currently a professor at the Electrical Engineering Department at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS (since January 2007), where he was the head of graduate and undergraduate courses. From July 2002 to December 2006 he was professor and head of the Computer Engineering Department, Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (UERGS). His research work is focuses on reliability and yield of MOS devices and circuits, including low-frequency noise, bias temperature instability (BTI), radiation effects, and design techniques to improve yield and reliability. He has stablished successful collaborative work with different companies and research groups in Europe, North and South America, and China. He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Electron Devices Society. He was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (term 2010 to 2011).

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