Accelerating NBTI Aging Evaluation via Physics-Aware Graph Attention Networks

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Zheng, RenJie, Liu, HengXi, Gao, ShuJun, Li, Cong
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866913172428947456
author Zheng, RenJie
Liu, HengXi
Gao, ShuJun
Li, Cong
author_facet Zheng, RenJie
Liu, HengXi
Gao, ShuJun
Li, Cong
contents As semiconductor technology advances to smaller nodes, Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) under prolonged workloads has emerged as a significant bottleneck constraining reliability-aware Design-Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO). Conventional TCAD simulations incur prohibitive computational overhead when evaluating device aging characteristics, making it difficult to satisfy the demand for efficient iterative design cycles. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an aging evaluation framework based on a physics-aware graph attention network (Physics-Aware RelGAT). By losslessly mapping unstructured device meshes into attributed graphs, this framework constructs a 45-dimensional device encoding scheme that integrates interface trap distributions and macroscopic electro-thermal stresses, achieving a direct mapping from underlying physical quantities to device degradation characteristics. To overcome the challenge of predicting currents that span multiple orders of magnitude, a dual-end normalization strategy and a log-scale loss function optimization are introduced, ensuring the model possesses high-precision fitting capabilities. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves a mean error of only 1.27% on an independent test set, achieving an acceleration of approximately 17,000 times compared to traditional TCAD simulations. This framework provides a solution for the assessment of circuit reliability in advanced process nodes that successfully balances physical fidelity with industrial-grade efficiency.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_31092
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Accelerating NBTI Aging Evaluation via Physics-Aware Graph Attention Networks
Zheng, RenJie
Liu, HengXi
Gao, ShuJun
Li, Cong
Emerging Technologies
As semiconductor technology advances to smaller nodes, Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) under prolonged workloads has emerged as a significant bottleneck constraining reliability-aware Design-Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO). Conventional TCAD simulations incur prohibitive computational overhead when evaluating device aging characteristics, making it difficult to satisfy the demand for efficient iterative design cycles. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an aging evaluation framework based on a physics-aware graph attention network (Physics-Aware RelGAT). By losslessly mapping unstructured device meshes into attributed graphs, this framework constructs a 45-dimensional device encoding scheme that integrates interface trap distributions and macroscopic electro-thermal stresses, achieving a direct mapping from underlying physical quantities to device degradation characteristics. To overcome the challenge of predicting currents that span multiple orders of magnitude, a dual-end normalization strategy and a log-scale loss function optimization are introduced, ensuring the model possesses high-precision fitting capabilities. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves a mean error of only 1.27% on an independent test set, achieving an acceleration of approximately 17,000 times compared to traditional TCAD simulations. This framework provides a solution for the assessment of circuit reliability in advanced process nodes that successfully balances physical fidelity with industrial-grade efficiency.
title Accelerating NBTI Aging Evaluation via Physics-Aware Graph Attention Networks
topic Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.31092