Application profiles of integrated circuits in various industry fields

Hongjing Zhang

Abstract：Integrated circuits play an increasingly important role in various fields. The aging effects， which lead to robustness problems in integrated circuits， has gained more attention. Therefore， during the design process the robustness problem must already be calculated. Generally， the time-dependent influences such as NBTI （negative bias temperature instability） and HCI （hot carrier injection） contribute to circuit aging problems [1].

Index Terms：Robustness；NBTI；HCI；Temperature；Voltage

1 INTRODUCTION

WITH the rapid development of technology and industry， integrated circuits play an increasingly important role in various fields， for instance unmanned vehicle and the anti-pinch function for cars. However， the stability also known as Robustness of these mentioned systems is very important. Robustness is the ability of a system to respond to a faulty operation， to retain the initial steady state. For security reasons， a robust system in different applications is of great importance， especially in the automotive and aerospace industry with applications such as automatic collision avoidance and autopilot. This also applies to applications of health care or rescue equipment [2]， where only small uncertainties of such a system may even result in fatal accidents. Therefore， during the design process the robustness problem must already be calculated. In order to reduce production costs and to improve functions， integrated circuits are continuously miniaturized， this results in an amplification of the aging effects. As a result， the robustness of systems are affected. It is generally considered， that the effects of NBTI and HCI are the two main factors to activate the aging of a circuit.

An aging circuit can be regarded as a time-dependent variation which has received increasing attention in the field of electronic designs. Both effects of NBTI and HCI depend primarily on the supply voltage and the operating temperature.

This paper refers to gather as much information as possible on the focus of temperature and voltage profiles from different industrial areas. In the following section the temperature profiles in automotive and aerospace areas are collected. Then the voltage profiles of the corresponding regions are presented. Finally， conclusions are drawn to summarize the development.

2 TEMPERATURE PROFILES

Nowadays， integrated circuit systems form the basis of complex electronics technology areas， such as cars， aircrafts and equipment in industrial automation， which make increasingly widespread deployments of integrated circuit systems to achieve more diverse functionalities， higher accuracies and less cost [3]. Due to the nature of these applications， integrated circuit systems are considered to perform in harsh environments. As Figure 1 shows， the performance of the electronic components are typically specified by the manufacturer in four temperature ranges [4]：

The classic application is for automotive use， where integrated circuits are designed to resist extreme temperatures. A summary in Table 1 of the requirements for high temperature automotive electronics is published by DaimlerChrysler， Eaton Corporation and Auburn University：

Integrated circuit systems have often been specified by military ranges due to the relatively large number of military and aerospace applications. In particular， aircraft engine control units are required to operate in extremely harsh environments. Most work is performed in temperatures of -55°C to 260°C. The electronic components that are operated from -55°C to 125°C， are most commonly used [6].

3 VOLTAGE PROFILES

NBTI and HCI are considered to contribute the most to the expected aging effects of integrated circuits， which are dependent on the supply voltage. Therefore， the voltage range is taken into account when a robust system is designed.

Power electronics play an increasingly important role in vehicle systems. Table 2 summarizes some typical voltage ranges of the power electronics in the power systems of a vehicle.

Aircraft electronics were operated at 14.25V DC in 1936， 28V DC in 1946 and the standard 115/200V AC 400 Hz systems was now being used in the majority of civil aircraft. 270V DC was used by the military to provide additional weight savings in 1980.

4 CONCLUSION

The aging problem is becoming more and more severe， due to integrated circuits are continuously being miniaturized for improving functionalities and reducing cost. Usually NBTI and HCI are considered to be the major triggers for the aging of integrated circuits. In order to easily simulate the effects of NBTI and HCI， the temperature and the voltage should be chosen as a parameter in general.

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