New Tool Takes On Flicker Noise

摘要

Cascade Microtech has unveiled a new test system designed to measure flicker noise in ICs, seen as a barrier to lowering device operating voltages as geometries shrink-and a strategic initiative to integrate measurements systems to provide users with measurement accuracy assurance.rnFlicker (l/f) noise, which occurs in all semiconductors, can compromise device performance by causing jitter or phase noise in communications devices (resulting in high bit-error rates), or random retention errors in flash memory or soft errors in SRAM. At smaller geometries, flicker noise has become a key contributor to overall noise in high-performance devices-in 2003, the ITRS amended a previous observation by reporting that operating voltages actually increase as device geometries shrink. Flicker noise is the gating barrier to reducing device operating voltages, so accurately characterizing it is increasingly urgent. (And today's market pressures allow even less room for the types of performance degradation flicker noise can cause: Higher serial data rates means less jitter margin, and the low standby power demanded by handhelds results in lower signal-to-noise ratios.)