Ridgetop’s leading edge, solution-based products support a wide range of designs for harsh environments. Our customers include major aerospace system builders, telecommunication firms, imaging system manufacturers and consumer electronics.
Prognostics
Prognostics can be defined as predictive diagnostics and enables advanced methods of supporting Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) and overall Integrated Health Management Systems (IVHM).
Ridgetop’s approach is based on extraction of “signatures” that precede failure of the system. This is referred to as the fault-to-failure progression. Applying prognostic methods, there can be sufficient time to take mitigating actions to assure continued operation of the system.
In electronic-based systems, there are five levels of degradation that can occur in the electronics, any one of which can lead to system failure.
Sentinel Software (System Level)
Ridgetop’s flagship platform is Sentinel Network, which collects sensor data, provides a database structure and provides processing of prognostic information resulting in state of health (SOH) and remaining useful life (RUL).
- Package
- Board
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- DigIO
- Digital
- Module
Sentinel Silicon
Sentinel Silicon are precision die-level "canaries" that will predict impending failure of ICs before the host circuit. Co-located with the host IC, Sentinel Silicon structures "see" the same environment as the chip, but are scaled to indicate failure conditions before the host device fails. The following aging degradation effects are shown below:
- Chip
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- Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB)
- This prognostic cell provides accurate measurement of age-related damage caused by TDDB effects.
- Hot Carrier Injection (HCI)
- Ridgetop provides a proven method to measure the amount of damage resulting from Hot Carrier effects.
- Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI)
- Ridgetop provides a proven method to measure the amount of damage resulting from Hot Carrier effects.
- RadCell Fox
- Under irradiation, the prognostic cell will indicate the amount of degradation from Field Oxide Leakage, causing leakage of the transistors.
- RadCell VT
- In ICs, the transistors are intended to be identical and used in matched pairs. With radiation exposure, the threshold voltage, VT , will begin to shift and can cause timing errors in digital circuits. This prognostic cell is precisely calibrated to reveal the extent of degradation, and trigger before worsening conditions cause further problems.
- Package
- System
Ridgetop’s signature detection methods extract information from the following levels:
- Fault Occurence
- Extraction Method
- Die Level
- Sentinel Silicon Library with in-situ test structures (Canaries)
- Package / Interconnect Level Intermittency Detection
- Sentinel SJ BIST™ for Ball Grid Array (BGA) packagesusing non-intrusive firmware methods for FPGAs. Sentinel SJ Monitor™ for external interconnect monitoring with a separate IC
- Board Level
- Sentinel PDCT for detection of intermittencies in board level installations using software-based autocorrelation method. Sentinel PHMPro™ to “mine” existing measurands and operands for prognostic signatures.
- Module Level
- Sentinel RingDown™ for non-intrusive power system monitoring. Sentinel RingDown EMA for non-intrusive prognostics for electro-mechanical actuators.
- System Level
- Sentinel Network™ for IT Network Prognostics. Sentinel PHMPro™ for Net Centric Prognostics that can support wider Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring (IVHM) applications
Semiconductor
Ridgetop’s semiconductor products encompass a wide range of designs for harsh environments.
Our customers have included aerospace system builders, telecommunication firms, imaging system manufacturers and consumer electronics.
Key custom design capabilities have been demonstrated in the design of high performance analog/mixed-signal electronics, and the application of radiation hardening expertise for ICs used in space satellites.
nanoDFM™ | Process Aware Design
For many years, Ridgetop has pioneered the design of in-situ test structures for critical measurements of IC parameters. This expertise has been leveraged with the introduction of Ridgetop’s Design-for-Manufacturing (DFM) family of products.
Proven at leading telecommunication and aerospace firms, the family provides rigorous and accurate measurements that can be used for foundry verification and yield improvement applications.
- PDKChek | YieldMaxx™
- YieldMaxx provides critical mismatch measurements for assessment of variations, and closed loop, on-chip correction to maintain high production yields in the presence of manufacturing process drifts.
- Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB)
- This prognostic cell provides accurate measurement of age-related damage caused by TDDB effects.
- Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI)
- Ridgetop has designed and verified the intermittent effects caused by NBTI in small geometry (sub 130nm) ICs.
- Chip
- YieldMaxx™
InstaCell IP Core Library
The cores provided by Ridgetop are "Silicon Proven" and have documented reports available. Ridgetop has designed cores for use in the IBM, TSMC, and AMI processes.
- Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) Cores
- Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) Cores
- Band Gap Reference (BGR) Core
- Op Amp Core
