REU Report: CALCE Electronic Device Experimentation

Semiconductor devices are categorized by the temperature limits that the device manufacturers specify. The usage of high temperature components are common in certain markets, like the military, oil and natural gas exploration, and avionics control systems. However, manufacturers are reducing and, in some cases, eliminating the production of these high temperature components, for the profitability and the market-share are dwindling. Because of this, many companies and research organizations are looking at extending the temperature ranges of the commonly produced devices. The CALCE (Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering) organization at the University of Maryland is one such group. CALCE has been testing multiple semiconductor devices out of their specification ranges, verifying if the components will operate successfully in temperature extremes. There is also a motive to recognize the patterns of part behavior and then be able to accurately predict behavior of similar parts in varying environments. My role at CALCE was to analyze data on several electrical parameters. The following paper is a rigorous analysis on propagation delay times of two different semiconductor devices. Unfortunately I received results on the second part recently, and I was unable to include all the appropriate information. Further testing will provide more results and analysis to add. Diganta Das and Margaret Jackson (both at CALCE) are extending the scope of the project and performing more experimentation. This paper will end up as a section in a larger article that will be submitted for publication, and I will be a co-author.