Cascade Microtech offers “industry's first” fully integrated flicker noise measurement system

With the cost of developing each new semiconductor manufacturing process node escalating dramatically and time to market pressures increasing, there is no longer room for error in measuring critical parameters such as flicker noise. Recognizing these market realities and their impact on semiconductor manufacturers, Cascade Microtech today introduced the EDGE Flicker Noise Measurement System, the only flicker noise measurement system that is certified to provide accurate measurements from 1Hz to 30 MHz.

In addition, the EDGE Flicker Noise Measurement System is the industry’s only fully integrated measurement system. In contrast to traditional flicker noise measurement solutions, which are bolted-together systems comprising system elements from up to five different vendors, the EDGE Flicker Noise Measurement System is a true turn-key solution. Seamless integration of the wafer probe station, instruments, software and accessories is overlaid with unprecedented service and support in the form of site surveys, pre- and post-measurement optimization and continuing application support. The result is a worry-free, accurate flicker noise measurement.

Flicker, or 1/f, noise occurs in all semiconductors and can compromise device performance by causing jitter or phase noise in communications devices, which results in high bit error rates. It can also cause random retention errors in flash memory or soft errors in SRAM. In fact, Flicker noise is such a problem for device developers that in 2003, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors was revised to forecast increased minimum device operating voltage as geometries shrink. Flicker noise, a major contributor to device noise, is the gating barrier to reducing device operating voltages. Unfortunately, today's market pressures result in even less room for the types of performance degradation flicker noise can cause. For instance, higher serial data rates means less jitter margin, and the low standby power demanded by handhelds results in lower signal to noise ratios.

Flicker noise is characterized by a corner frequency beyond which other types of noise become dominant. Because extrinsic background noise often obscures the ultra-low noise frequency corner, measurement and extraction tasks are typically difficult to achieve with precision.

Ironically, such background noise is often introduced by the very systems attempting to measure flicker. Unlike Cascade Microtech's fully integrated EDGE Flicker Noise Measurement System, other flicker measurement solutions are bolted together from multiple instruments and probes from multiple vendors and are virtually impossible to imbue with the noise immunity a fully integrated system can attain.

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