RIFLE: a Research Instrument for FLash Evaluation AT Active Technologies

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Presentation This file contains a RIFLE instrument presentation A RIFLEs user demo is shown in the Rifle demo file This demo has been designed for Office 2002, but it may run quite well under Office 2000

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Index Introduction ( 1 min. 15)Introduction Hardware features ( 7 min. 10)Hardware features System performances ( 1 min. 55)System performances Software architecture ( 2 min. 10)Software architecture Scientific references ( 1 min. 10)Scientific references Role of Active Technologies and N-plus-T ( 20)Role of Active Technologies and N-plus-T End of presentation Select the section to visit by clicking on the section name Select the section to visit by clicking on the section name

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Project history 1996 – Kick-off of the RIFLE project, at the Università di Ferrara, Italy 1998 – First prototype: beginning of research activity 2001 – First industrialized release 2002 – Second industrialized release 2003 – Creation of the Academic spin-off Active Technologies for RIFLE commercialization and support

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Aims of the project Development of a flexible instrument for research/characterization activities ATE-like hardware performances Standard software support (C, C++ languages and LabVIEW) Ultra-friendly use

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Flexible instrument: why New products development andcharacterization require high flexibility(data acquisition, signal waveforms, voltages, …) What if philosophy Possibility of identify and track selected cells Possibility of evaluating the impact of any modification on long-term reliability Possibility of immediate availability of measure s results

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Instrument architecture

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Features P.C.I. BUS Standard Bus DUT (Device Under Test) is treated as an extension of the PC memory: it is simply accessed like an array structure during read/write cycles PCs storing and computational capabilities are fully exploited S Storing and computational capabilities can be upgraded by upgrading the PC A Address space: 512Mbytes Bus width: 8, 16, 32 bits Bus speed: up to 33 MHz

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 A Programmable state machine translates the PCI cycles into the DUT cycles to match its timing requirements Timing Generator

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generators Unused slots for waveform generators can be used to plug-in customized cards to add new hardware features RIFLE can be equipped with up to arbitrary waveform generators. The impact on device performance and long term reliability of any shape and duration modification in the waveform applied during writing operations can be easily evaluated

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generators DAC Top Bottom Control Block The generator architecture is based on a high speed 32ksample (or 128ksample) SRAM, managed as a F FF FIFO, where the waveform samples are stored during the measurement setup

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generators DAC Top Bottom Control Block When the waveform is generated, its samples are p pp popped from the FIFO memory and c cc converted into an analog signal by a high speed (125 Msps) D/A converter and a current feedback output buffer (140Mhz Bandwidth, 2500 V/ s Slew-Rate)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generators DAC Top Bottom Control Block O Output buffer performances: Output voltage range: up to ± 13 V (trimmerable) Maximum output current: ± 50 mA Bandwidth: 140 MHz Slew rate: 2500 V/ s Different requirements can be obtained by substituting the output buffer or by p pp plugging a specific generator into the motherboard

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generators DAC Top Bottom Control Block Single pulse or p pp periodic arbitrary waveforms can be generated The sampling rate is programmable: - The m mm maximum time resolution is 10 ns with a maximum pulse duration of s (with a 32K sample FIFO) - The m mm minimum time resolution is s with a maximum pulse duration of 10.7 s (with the clock signal divided by 32768)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Waveform generator synchronization RIFLE has advanced synchronization capabilities to keep the timing requirements of the DUT and to synchronize all its data acquisition and generation circuits: All generators can be simultaneously triggered All generators can be triggered by external events Waveforms can be arbitrarily and mutually delayed 3 specific waveform generators have the alternative function of synchronization generators to generate the trigger events for the analog acquisition circuits or for the other arbitrary waveform generators Analog signal acquisitions can be synchronized with the applied voltage waveforms

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 General purpose I/O 16 digital outputs and 8 digital inputs are provided to drive the DUT internal logic circuits

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Level Translators All the digital signal levels are translated into the programmable DUT power supply voltage level to support devices with different power requirements The DUT power supply can be programmed from 5V down to 1.2 V The DUT power supply is provided by a Amps programmable voltage generator

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Current Generator A programmable C CC Current Generator provides the reference current required for read and verify operations

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Direct Memory Access A circuit called D DD DMA is provided to measure the c cc current characteristics of any cell. Both D or 3D characteristic can be evaluated.

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Direct Memory Access I/V Converters A/D Data Bus Voltage Generator Switch Matrix I By means of a switch matrix t tt two data bus lines are selected and a v vv voltage is applied by means of a voltage generator

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Direct Memory Access I/V Converters A/D Data Bus Voltage Generator Switch Matrix I The currents supplied on these lines are converted into voltages and then digitized in p pp parallel by two 12 bit ADCs with a 2.5 s conversion time

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Direct Memory Access The trigger command can be generated by means of a synchronism generator so that the acquisition can start at a aa any desired and synchronized time I/V Converters A/D Data Bus Voltage Generator Switch Matrix I

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Power Zero RIFLE has a circuit called P PP Power Zero that performs synchronized high speed current waveform measurements on a aa any DUT signal

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Power Zero Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO control signals Switch Matrix By means of a s ss switch matrix a aa any DUT signal (power supply included) can be selected and connected to the PW0 unit

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO control signals Switch Matrix Power Zero Pulse Generator A p pp pulse generator applies a waveform on the selected device pin

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO control signals Switch Matrix Power Zero A h hh high speed d dd differential Amplifier reads the voltage drop across a sensing resistance due to the current flowing Pulse Generator

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO Pulse Generator control signals Switch Matrix Power Zero Third state Any pin of the DUT can also be connected to an a aa alternative voltage generator

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO Pulse Generator control signals Switch Matrix Power Zero The c cc current waveform is then sampled at up to 40Msps by a bit A/D converter

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO Pulse Generator control signals Switch Matrix Power Zero The samples are s ss stored in a FIFO memory (4Ksample deep)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Power Zero Video Diff. Amp. ADC FIFO Pulse Generator control signals Switch Matrix The current waveform conversion and storing can be triggered by means of a synchronism generator so that the w ww waveform acquisition can start at any desired time, synchronously with the applied pulse

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Calibration The hardware calibration is made during the first factory system testing and doesnt need any user intervention. A further software fine calibration can be periodically executed by the user. By means of a dedicated calibration board and a multimeter, the user can adjust both the offset and gain errors of all analog circuits following the step by step procedure of the calibration software provided with the calibration board.

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Performances Current unit resolutions and full-scales DMA current measurement unit: 2 full-scales:±500 A, 12 bit resolution ± A, 12 bit r rr resolution

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Performances PW0 current measurement unit: 3 full-scales: 500 A, 10 bit resolution 5 mA, 10 bit resolution mA, 10 bit resolution Current unit resolutions and full-scales

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Performances Current generator: 2 full-scales: 600 A, 12 bit resolution 60 A, 12 bit resolution Current unit resolutions and full-scales

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 The time requirements for standard operations strongly depend on device speed and bandwidth Time limitations are usually imposed by the device itself The following time requirements refer to a 8.6 Mbit sector of a commercial device Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Minimum read cycle bit bus width, 0 wait-states): 4 clock periods ns Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Programming: 1 sector (8.6 Mcells), with verify, 1 single pulse applied to each cell, 8bit parallelism: s Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Erasing: 8.6 Mcells sector, with verify, 1 pulse applied: s Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Performances Threshold Voltage Distributions with 20 resolution levels: s Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Threshold Voltage Maps with 20 resolution levels: s Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Criterion based subset identification: identification of 1000 cells complying with a particular requirement (i.e., the lowest, the highest, etc.): s Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Vth tracking for subset of cells: threshold voltage measure of the identified 1000 cells : s Performances Time requirements (examples)

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Software RIFLE instrument Architecture The instrument software is hierarchically organized to hide the implementation details and, by means of different programming languages, to create a powerful and easy to use environment

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Software RIFLE instrument Instrument Driver At the lowest level, just above the hardware, there is the instrument driver. It belongs to the PC Operating System and it must not be modified by the user. Its written in C and assembler languages. System Level Interface: Virtual Device Driver

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Software RIFLE instrument System Level Interface: Virtual Device Driver Application Program Interface: Dynamic Link Libraries API At a higher layer we find the API. Its a library of functions that work as an interface between the driver routines and the higher level programming languages. Also this layer must not be modified by the user.

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Chip Dependent Interface This is the first layer that can be modified by the user. It consists of a library of functions specific for the DUT. Its written in C or C++ to achieve high efficiency and must be implemented for any new device. Software RIFLE instrument System Level Interface: Virtual Device Driver Application Program Interface: Dynamic Link Libraries Chip Dependent Interface: Dynamic Link Libraries

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Software High level Program Interface The High Level Program Interface is written in the G language of the National Instrument LabVIEW program. At this level, by means of several panels, the user can control any instrument operation, execute measurements and graphically analyze data. RIFLE instrument System Level Interface: Virtual Device Driver Application Program Interface: Dynamic Link Libraries Chip Dependent Interface: Dynamic Link Libraries High Level Program Interface: LabVIEW Virtual Instrument Libraries

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 High level software structure Any measurement can be set up and launched in a completely graphical environment developed under the National Instruments LabVIEW platform

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Executing standard measurements By means of a navigator window it is possible to set up the parameters for any measurement (program, erase, IV measures, distributions and maps, stresses,..), to browse among 2D and 3D maps and distributions of threshold voltages or current gains, 2D and 3D I-V characteristics

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Scientific references RIFLE has been extensively used for research purposes at the Università di Ferrara Several papers have been published on international journals or presented at international conferences thanks to RIFLE A list of paper published on int. journals is here reported

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Scientific references P. Pellati et al, Automated Test Equipment for Research on Nonvolatile Memories IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. vol. 50, p. 1162, Oct A. Chimenton et al, "Threshold voltage spread in Flash memories under a constant DQ erasing scheme", Microelectronic Engineering, vol. 59, p. 109, Nov A. Chimenton et al. "Analysis of Erratic Bits in Flash Memories", IEEE Trans. on Device and Materials Reliability, vol. 1, p. 179, Dec G. Cellere et al., "Radiation Effects on Floating-Gate Memory Cells", IEEE Trans. on Nucl. Sc., vol.48, p. 2222, Dec 2001 A. Chimenton et at, "Constant Charge Erasing Scheme for Flash Memories", IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, vol. 49, p. 613, Apr.2002 G. Cellere et al., "Anomalous charge loss from Floating-Gate Memory Cells due to heavy ions irradiation", IEEE Trans. on Nucl. Sc., vol. 49, p. 3051, Dec. 2002

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Scientific references A. Chimenton et al., "Erratic bits in Flash Memories under Fowler-Nordheim programming", Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 42, p. 2041, April 2003 A. Chimenton et al., "Flash Memory Reliability: an Improvement Against Erratic Erase Phenomena Using the Constant Charge Erasing Scheme", Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 42, p. 2025, Apr A. Chimenton et al., "An Insight Into Flash Memory Reliability: Erratic, Fast and Tail bits", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 91, p , Apr A. Chimenton et al., Erratic Erase in Flash Memories (part I): Basic Experimental and Statistical Characterization IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, Vol. 50, p. 1009, Apr A. Chimenton et al., Erratic Erase in Flash Memories (part II): Dependence on Operating Conditions IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, Vol. 50, p. 1015, Apr. 2003

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Role of AT and N-plus-T RIFLE production Service and maintenance Test head design and production RIFLE commercialization

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 Role of AT and N-plus-T Training Software upgrade Driver design &

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 End of Section Make your choice by using the PC mouse Make your choice by using the PC mouse Index page Index page End of presentation End of presentation

Active Technologies - RIFLE presentation - October 2003 The staff of Active Technologies thanks you for your kind attention