Electromigration evaluation methodology with consideration of thermal and signal effects

1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating a heat sensitive structure comprising:

identifying a heat sensitive structure in an integrated circuit design layout, the heat sensitive structure having a nominal temperature T nom ;

identifying a first signal carrying structure within a thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure, the first signal carrying structure comprising a first heat generating structure;

calculating an operating temperature T oph1 of the first signal carrying structure as a function of an electrical signal current applied to the first signal carrying structure over a time period t;

calculating a temperature increase ΔT h1 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the first signal carrying structure at the operating temperature T oph1 ;

performing an electromigration (EM) analysis of the heat sensitive structure at an evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 ;

verifying that the EM analysis of the heat sensitive structure meets a design specification; and

generating a tape out corresponding to the integrated circuit design layout for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a second heat generating structure within the thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T oph2 for the second heat generating structure;

calculating a ΔT h2 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the second heat generating structure at the operating temperature T oph2 ; and

evaluating the heat sensitive structure at the evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 +ΔT h2 .

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the heat sensitive structure comprises a conductive line.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the first signal carrying structure is a fin field effect transistor (FinFET) structure.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein:

the second heat generating structure is a high-resistance (Hi-R) structure.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein calculating an operating temperature T oph1 of the first signal carrying structure further comprises:

calculating the electrical signal current as a function of the waveform, frequency, and duty cycle of an electrical signal applied to the first signal carrying structure over the time period t.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a first heat sink element within a thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T opc1 for the first heat sink element;

calculating a ΔT c1 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the first heat sink element at the operating temperature T opc2 ; and

evaluating the heat sensitive structure at the evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 +ΔT h2 +ΔT c1 .

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

verifying that the evaluation of the heat sensitive structure meets design specifications; and

manufacturing a semiconductor device in response to the heat sensitive structure meeting the design specifications.

9. A computer-implemented method for evaluating a heat sensitive structure of in an integrated circuit design comprising:

identifying a heat sensitive structure;

calculating a nominal temperature T nom of the heat sensitive structure;

identifying a first heat dissipating structure within a first thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T opc1 of the first heat dissipating structure;

calculating a ΔT c1 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling with the T opc1 of the first heat dissipating structure;

conducting an electromigration (EM) performance evaluation of the heat sensitive structure at an evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT c1 ;

verifying that the EM analysis of the heat sensitive structure meets a design specification; and

generating a tape out corresponding to the integrated circuit design layout for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

identifying a second heat dissipating structure within a second thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T opc2 for the second heat dissipating structure;

calculating a ΔT c2 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the second heat dissipating structure at the operating temperature T opc2 ; and

conducting the evaluation of the heat sensitive structure at the evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT c1 +ΔT c2 .

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein:

the heat sensitive structure is a FinFET device.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein:

the first thermal coupling range and the second thermal coupling range are different.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein:

calculating the nominal temperature T nom comprises an analysis of self-heating effect ΔT for the heat sensitive structure and environmental temperature conditions T env , with T nom =T env +ΔT.

14. The method for evaluating a heat sensitive structure of an integrated circuit design according to claim 9 , wherein:

the first heat dissipating structure is an active region.

15. The method according to claim 9 , wherein:

the first heat dissipating structure is a portion of an electrically conductive pattern.

16. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

retrieving design data corresponding to the integrated circuit design from a database of integrated circuit designs; and

analyzing the design data to identify the heat sensitive structure and the first heat dissipating structure.

17. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

identifying a plurality of conductive layers in the integrated circuit design; and

retrieving a plurality of thermal coefficients associated with each of the plurality of conductive layers, wherein the thermal coefficients comprise a de-rating coefficient, a layer effect, and a temperature profile.

18. A computer-implemented method for evaluating a heat sensitive structure comprising:

identifying a heat sensitive structure in an integrated circuit design layout, the heat sensitive structure having a nominal temperature T nom ;

identifying a first signal carrying structure within a thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T oph1 of the first signal carrying structure as a function of an electrical signal current applied to the first signal carrying structure over a time period t;

calculating a temperature increase ΔT h1 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the first signal carrying at the operating temperature T oph1 ;

identifying a first heat dissipating structure within the thermal coupling range;

calculating an operating temperature T opc1 of the first heat dissipating structure;

calculating a ΔT c1 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling with the T opc1 of the heat dissipating structure;

conducting an electromigration (EM) performance evaluation of the heat sensitive structure at an evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 +ΔT c1 ;

verifying that the EM analysis of the heat sensitive structure meets a design specification; and

generating a tape out corresponding to the integrated circuit design layout for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising:

identifying a second heat dissipating structure within a second thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T opc2 for the second heat dissipating structure;

calculating a ΔT c2 for the second heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the second heat dissipating structure at the operating temperature T opc2 ; and

conducting the evaluation of the heat sensitive structure at the evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 +ΔT c1 +ΔT c2 .

20. The method according to claim 19 , further comprising:

identifying a heat generating structure within the thermal coupling range of the heat sensitive structure;

calculating an operating temperature T oph2 for the heat generating structure;

calculating a ΔT h2 for the heat sensitive structure induced by thermal coupling to the heat generating structure at the operating temperature T oph2 ; and

evaluating the heat sensitive structure at the evaluation temperature T E =T nom +ΔT h1 +ΔT h2 +ΔT c1 +ΔT c2 .