Semiconductor Technology Center (STC)

BAE Systems has been providing radiation-hardened products and system solutions to the space community since the early 1980s, and advances this work with the installation of the 0.25 µm CMOS process in 2004, and the 0.15 µm CMOS process in 2005.

The Semiconductor Technology Center (STC) is a leading manufacturer of radiation-qualified, space-level semiconductor devices with advanced wafer fabrication equipment. The STC has a complete design, fabrication, packaging, and test facility for very large-scale integration (VLSI) wafer/module development and production. The semiconductor fabrication facility features stand alone capabilities starting from procurement of materials through fully screened and qualified mil-spec packaged components.

The main production facility consists of a Class 1 facility for advanced optical lithography processing, which adjoins a Class 100 clean room space for wafer fabrication, and an adjacent Class 10 area for advanced planarized metallurgy. A Class 100 facility is used for component assembly. Our 46,000-square-foot STC manufacturing facility produces advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor devices.

Current and planned products include radiation-hardened 4 Mb SRAM, 16 Mb SRAM, 4 Mb nonvolatile memory, RAD750^® microprocessor, 250 K gate FPGA, read out integrated circuits, and high-density ASICs. Extensive capability exists to implement low- to medium-volume product development and production with special/unique process recipes and novel materials.

The STC fabrication facility is included in the Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) qualified manufacturers listing for the production of avionics and radiation-hardened space level parts. The wafer and assembly fabrication is under statistical process control, and uses in-line physical and electrical data to assure product quality and reliability in real time, rather than waiting for screening and qualification at the end of the line.

In addition to the wafer manufacturing facility, BAE Systems has packaging, military screening, testing, and other supporting facilities. STC offers a broad selection of cost-effective, space-qualified technologies for high-density packaging to meet high-performance application needs, including:

• Single- and multiple-chip packages using wire bond and flip-chip assembly processing
• VLSI chip-on-silicon (VCOS) multi-chip package
• Hermetic modules for packaging plastic carriers or stacked die hybrid multi-chip modules

Our multi-chip packaging technologies represent the highest packaging density available, and offer solutions tailored to customer needs.

The STC test area encompasses three logic test systems and two memory test systems. The area performs production testing as well as engineering evaluation on wafers and packaged devices over the military temperature range.

We have fully equipped VLSI characterization, failure analysis, and reliability laboratories that perform routine and diagnostic testing and evaluation. These test capabilities support automated in-depth analysis of process issues identified on product and defect, parametric, reliability, and radiation monitoring test sites.

Yield losses due to defects, process margin, or design margin are tracked; improvement plans are formulated, implemented and reviewed. Failure analysis instruments include photo-emission and scanning electron microscopes, and a focused ion beam system supporting process diagnostics and repair of semiconductors.

A J.L. Shepherd Model 109 Cobalt-60 gamma source and an ARACOR 4100 X-ray irradiator are on site for total dose testing. We also have access to, and experience with, LINAC, Flash X-ray, heavy ion, proton, and neutron test facilities.