|
|
Re: An interesting prototype has turned up
12/21/12 02:45 PM
|
|
|
> Yes those are the extreme circumstances I was talking about. Regardless no matter the
> specs, there is fixed a voltage between the entry and exit of the semiconductors
> which will determine the amount of energy it will sustain at any time. That amount of
> energy is way, way inferior to the energy contained in the chemical bonds, so the
> chemicals should not react. But there is always an epsilon risk of them reacting and
> the bigger the total amount of energy it sustains over time the higher that epsilon
> is of course.
Voltage across the semiconductor junctions doesn't have much to do with it. The very thin oxide layers in modern CMOS chips easily degrade from heat alone. The first-generation Motorola 7400 CPUs (in FCPGA packages before they went BGA) are well-known for this happening even when run within specified temperature limits. Then you lose the insulation between the gate and the channel, killing (part of) your chip. The IBM POWER chips had far thicker oxide layers, so they used far more power at the same clock speed, but they could run hotter and didn't have problems with oxide degradation.
It's similar with Schottky barrier diodes - the chemical bonds within the metal used for the anode are not particularly strong, and the metal atoms will readily form bonds with the metalloid semiconductors in the cathode. This means atoms from the metal anode will slowly diffuse into the cathode and poison it. Higher temperatures will speed it up, but it will happen at room temperature eventually.
The fact is, console ROMs have survived very well because of extreme circumstances. Sitting in a box at room temperature is not really how semiconductor products are designed to be used.
|
|
Index 
Flat 
Re: An interesting prototype has turned up
Reply
Re: An interesting prototype has turned up *edit*
