Reliability Issues & the Development of Advanced DRAM Products
Wayne Ellis of IBM, Essex Junction, VT

Because of the all points addressable array of minimum feature size structures, DRAMs have been a powerful vehicle to develop techniques and insights into the relationships between technology and the achievement of manufacturability and final product reliability. This tutorial will discuss how today's reliability issues are addressed in the realm of high performance DRAM product design and development. Because of increased demands for product performance in a wider market, the issue of functional reliability in the system electrical environment will be introduced. Discussion of functional reliability will cover how this issue can relate to and also be independent of traditional reliability issues. The tutorial will cover:

• Basic DRAM architecture and function.
• Design for reliability, testability and manufacturability techniques in DRAMs.
• Burn in.
• Functional reliability