Electrical fuse lets chips heal themselves

2004; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Volume: 41; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1109/mspec.2004.1338777

ISSN

1939-9340

Tópico(s)

Integrated Circuits and Semiconductor Failure Analysis

Resumo

The electronic system of the future will monitor itself, change the functions it performs, and repair its damaged circuits-all without external intervention. Such is the dream of autonomic computing. Although the dream is not yet reality, engineers and scientists at IBM Corp. have taken a big step with the development of an on-chip fuse that is electrically blown-or programmed, as the company prefers to call the process-by using a physical effect heretofore considered a serious reliability problem in semiconductor circuits. According to IBM, combining the new eFuse technology with already available on-chip built-in self-test and -repair circuitry will yield a chip capable of diagnosing its failures and then fixing them by blowing fuses to reroute its circuits.

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