CoE197U-A1.1

• Activity: IC Fabrication and Scaling
• Instructions: In this activity, you are tasked to
  • Watch a short video about integrated circuit (IC) fabrication.
  • Read Gordon Moore's 1965 paper.
  • Read a paper on CMOS scaling.
  • Read a paper on process variability.
  • Write a short (1-page) report.
• Should you have any questions, clarifications, or issues, please contact your instructor as soon as possible.

• At the end of this activity, the student should be able to:

1. Enumerate and explain the key steps and technologies involved in fabricating integrated circuits.
2. Explain why there is a concern about the future of CMOS technology.

Video

• Video: Silicon Run I (1996) Youtube link

After watching the video, go over Phillip Allen's slides on CMOS fabrication. This is a good simplified overview of the modern IC fabrication process.

Paper/Article Reading

• Gordon E Moore, Cramming more components onto integrated circuits, Electronics, Volume 38, Number 8, April 19, 1965 (pdf)
• T. Skotnicki, J. A. Hutchby, Tsu-Jae King, H. -. P. Wong and F. Boeuf, The end of CMOS scaling: toward the introduction of new materials and structural changes to improve MOSFET performance, in IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 16-26, Jan.-Feb. 2005, doi: 10.1109/MCD.2005.1388765.
  • You can access this paper for free via the UPEEEI VPN service. If you cannot access the IEEE link via the UPEEEI VPN, you can also access this via this link.
  • IEEExplore link.
• S. Borkar, Designing reliable systems from unreliable components: the challenges of transistor variability and degradation, in IEEE Micro, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 10-16, Nov.-Dec. 2005, doi: 10.1109/MM.2005.110.
  • You can access this paper for free via the UPEEEI VPN service.
  • IEEExplore link.

VPN Access

For questions on UPEEEI VPN access, please send an email to EEEI Support:   $\mathrm {support}$@$\mathrm {eee.upd.edu.ph}$

Report Guide

Based on the video you watched, the papers (not limited to the papers above) you have read, and any other resource that is available to you, write a short (1-2 page) report on what you think would be the key challenges IC designers will face in the near future, and why.

Submission

Submit your report via email before starting Module 2.