I/UCRC for Integrated Design-for-Reliability for Electronics (iDRE)
1160865 University of California-Riverside; Albert Wang 1160870 Vanderbilt University; Bharat Bhuva
The University of California-Riverside (UC-R) and Vanderbilt University (VU) are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with UC-R as the lead institution.
The Center for Integrated Design-for-Reliability for Electronics (iDRE) will conduct research on investigating radiation and transient electrostatic discharge (ESD) induced failures to integrated circuits (IC), multi-chip nodules (MCM) and system-in-package (SiP), and microelectronics systems; as well as developing reliability solutions by integrated designs for industrial electronics. An additional objective of the planning grant proposal is to hold a meeting with potential industrial partners to discuss the research needs for integrated design-for-reliability (DfR) and center operation mechanisms.
If successful, research activities at the iDRE Center will reveal fundamentals and mechanisms of ESD and soft error failures, as well as deliver ESD protection and soft error mitigation solutions to advanced ICs and systems. The research outcomes will cast huge impacts on modern microelectronics and system products, and will have significant benefits to the electronic industry and the nation's economy. The proposed integrated DfR reliability solutions will affect all aspects of human lives, from communications and entertainment, to information processing and storage, to life-threatening devices and mission-critical tasks, and so on. The PIs also propose a diversity plan to promote involvement of female and underrepresented minority students in engineering education and research.
This project was for the development of a joint IUCRC center at the University of California, Riverside and Vanderbilt University for integrated Design for Reliability in Electronics (iDRE). There are strong teams in place at both the universities for soft errors and electrmigration areas. The PI's attended the center planning meeting in Washington, DC and met with other PI from other successful centers. Many strategies were developed and lessions learned at that meeting. Afterwards, both the teams developed center material and strategies for getting potential member companies involved in the center. Center was advertised at the IEEE 2012 International Reliability Physics Symposium held in Anaheim. There were posters and flyers distributed to all attendees at the conference. THis conference is thew premier IEEE conference that deals with reliability and design for electronics systems. Most potential member companies had representatives at the conference. Multiple meetings with these representatives were held to discuss center. The center was also announced and advertised through multiple media (email and US mail) to targeted industry representatives. A meeting was held at UC-R with potential industry members to view center details and proposed projects. However, after elaborate discussions with potential industry members, it was evident that the long term viability of the center was not good. As a result, Vanderbilt team decide to not pursue the IUCRC center concept at this time.
