iRoC releases Information on Radiation Test Methodology which contributes to Accurate Prediction of SER in Chips

SERTEST Shuttle Results and Methodology Lead to More Effective Protection from Soft Errors

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – June 2, 2003 - iRoC Technologies, a leader in the field of Semiconductor Infrastructure IP, announced today the completion of a series of radiation tests at several neutron and proton facilities on SRAM, DRAM Flash and TCAM memory types to measure Soft Error Ra tes (SER). For 0.13 micron technologies and smaller geometries these SER for test die are necessary to verify the compliance with the highest quality and reliability specifications for critical applications such as networking and high end computing. In addition to SER measurement, a new method of assessing SER in logic will help engineers improve designs by producing the correct protection to reach the Failure-In-Time (FIT) target. Over design is often the plague of problems that are not well understood or measured.

Because of increased demand iRoC also announced improved capacity to perform radiation tests at neutron beam and multi-beam facilities each month. Partnerships and connections have been solidified worldwide with facilities in Sweden, The Netherlands, France, and the USA.

“iRoC’s SERTEST provided us with a flexible platform for rapid evaluation of our evolving prototypes,” stated Raif Hijab, director of reliability for T-RAM, Inc. “The expertise of iRoC’s engineers, and the logistical support they provided were instrumental in our ability to generate reliable data in an efficient and timely manner.”

Radiation Test Services for SER Qualification
iRoC’s SERTEST™ is a bundle of professional services built around SER radiation testing. This allows foundries, system houses, fabless companies and IP providers to qualify any kind of IC or process technology to the soft error phenomenon. The turnkey solution includes an expertise from decades of experience in the field, a portable digital test bed, test programming, logistics at the test facility and a comprehensive report of results. iRoC’s team is specialized in any type of SER testing: alpha particles testing, accelerated (ASER) and non accelerated testing (SSER). For SSER, iRoC takes full advantage of the proximity of the Alps to run tests at high altitudes and in a cave to filter out the cosmic ray component of radiations.

"iRoC's test team helped Toshiba meet the requirement of its customer for SER measurement in a very professional way," said Eisuke Itoh, senior manager at TOSHIBA’s memory division in Japan.

“By creating more beam availability and developing five new test beds we have expanded our capacity to meet the growing market demand for radiation tests,” said Olivier Lauzeral, Director of Operations at iRoC. “We believe our service is unique and leading the industry. ”

Radiation Testing Market to Grow with New Methodology to Test Logic
SER testing is becoming a mandatory path for memory providers in 0.13 micron, either through accelerated or non accelerated test. The demand for this activity will grow at the pace of adoption of 0.13 micron and smaller technologies by the industry. Companies are questioning the immunization of the logic part of their SoC against soft errors as they are developing 90 nanometer processes. But logic testing is much more challenging to do in an exhaustive way, since error detection should occur in the whole chip, not only in the areas that are stressed when running an application program during radiation testing. For this purpose, iRoC developed a new methodology based on radiation test results and complemented by specific simulation to provide the overall SER of logic circuits. Another attribute of this method is that one will need only one radiation test per technology to assess SER for all its designs with this technology geometry. Cost reduction and development times are the obvious advantages of this method. With this product offering, iRoC covers all the possible needs of the industry for SER testing.

About iRoC Technologies
iRoC Technologies develops and licenses design and test solutions to enhance the quality, yield and reliability of nanometer integrated circuits. iRoC turnkey solutions include soft error protection, embedded test of memory defects and radiation test services. More information on the company's products and services can be obtained at www.iroctech.com.

iRoC Technologies and SERTEST, are registered trademarks of iRoC Technologies Corporation. All other company or product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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