RELIABILITY REPORT 57
1H 2014
Copyright © 2014 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved. Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the
stylized Altera logo, specific device designations, and all other words and logos that are identified as trademarks
and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the
U.S. and other countries. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holders. Altera
products are protected under numerous U.S. and foreign patents and pending applications, maskwork rights,
and copyrights. Altera warrants performance of its semiconductor products to current specifications in
accordance with Altera's standard warranty, but reserves the right to make changes to any products and services
at any time without notice. Altera assumes no responsibility or liability arising out of the application or use of
any information, product, or service described herein except as expressly agreed to in writing by Altera
Corporation. Altera customers are advised to obtain the latest version of device specifications before relying on
any published information and before placing orders for products or services.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview .............................................................................................................................4
Altera Quality Policy .........................................................................................................4
Altera Quality Systems ......................................................................................................5
Figure 1: Typical Product Flow Chart ...................................................................................................... 6
Reliability Methodology ....................................................................................................7
Table I: Product Family Description ......................................................................................................... 7
Table II: Reliability Qualification Requirements....................................................................................... 9
Table III: Reliability Monitor Program.................................................................................................... 10
Lifetest: Methodology and Failure Rate Prediction .....................................................11
Lifetest Methodology............................................................................................................................... 11
Failure Rate Prediction ............................................................................................................................ 12
Table IV: Common Failure Mechanisms and Acceleration Factors ....................................................... 13
Lifetest Results .................................................................................................................14
Table V: Lifetest summary ..................................................................................................................... 14
FLEX 0.42 Products .............................................................................................................................. 15
FLEX 0.3/0.35 Products ........................................................................................................................ 16
FLEX, ACEX, and APEX 0.22 Products .............................................................................................. 17
APEX, Excalibur, and Mercury 0.18 Products ...................................................................................... 18
APEX and Mercury 0.15 Products ........................................................................................................ 19
Stratix, Stratix GX, Cyclone and HardCopy 0.13 Products................................................................... 20
Stratix II, Stratix II GX, Cyclone II, Arria GX and HardCopy II – 90 nm Products ............................... 21
Stratix III, Cyclone III and Cyclone IV – 65/60 nm Products ................................................................. 22
Stratix IV, Arria II GX & GZ and HardCopy III & IV – 40 nm Products ............................................... 22
Arria V and Cyclone V – 28nm Low Power Products ............................................................................. 23
Stratix V – 28nm High Performance Products ........................................................................................ 25
MAX 7000S and MAX 9000 – Third Generation ................................................................................... 26
MAX 7000A and MAX 3000A – Fourth Generation .............................................................................. 27
MAX 7000B – Fifth Generation .............................................................................................................. 28
MAX II, MAX V – 0.18 μm FLASH Products ....................................................................................... 29
Configuration Devices – EPROM ........................................................................................................... 30
Configuration Devices – Flash Memory .................................................................................................. 31
PowerSoC 5300 and 6300 Family ........................................................................................................... 32
PowerSoC EN2300 Family and EC2360 ................................................................................................. 33
PowerSoC EV1300 Family ...................................................................................................................... 34
High Temperature Storage .............................................................................................35
Reflow Simulation and Moisture Preconditioning .......................................................37
Accelerated Moisture Resistance ....................................................................................38
Autoclave ................................................................................................................................................. 38
Unbiased HAST ....................................................................................................................................... 38
Temperature Humidity Bias ...........................................................................................42
Highly Accelerated Stress Testing ........................................................................................................... 44
Temperature Cycling .......................................................................................................47
PowerSoC Device Package Stress ...................................................................................50
Temperature Humidity Test ...........................................................................................52
Solder Joint Reliability ....................................................................................................54
Serial Configuration Devices ..........................................................................................58
Quad-Serial Configuration Devices ...............................................................................58
0.15 μm process – Monitoring Results .................................................................................................... 58
0.11 μm process – Monitoring Results .................................................................................................... 59
65 nm process – Monitoring Results ....................................................................................................... 59
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Overview
Altera® Corporation is the pioneer of programmable logic solutions, enabling system and
semiconductor companies to rapidly and cost effectively innovate, differentiate, and win in their
markets. Altera offers FPGAs, SoCs with embedded processor systems, and CPLDs in combination
with software tools, intellectual property, embedded processors and customer support to provide high-
value programmable solutions.
This report shows reliability results on each product family from Altera's product catalog. All results
successfully meet Altera quality and reliability standards. Altera ensures that standards are constantly
met through continuous monitoring.
Altera Quality Commitment
DRIVE Quality in everything we do
to ensure the Customer’s total quality experience!
D Deliver defect-free products and services on time
R Requirements are met at all times for internal and external customers
I
Improve continuously
V Verify effectiveness
E Every Altera employee is responsible!
Altera’s corporate mission is to be the preferred fabless supplier of FPGAs, SoCs with embedded
processor systems, CPLDs, ASICs and PowerSoCs in combination with software tools, intellectual
property, embedded processors and customer support, in order to provide high-value programmable
solutions. Altera will use this advantage to gain market share penetration into the larger Logic IC
market.
To achieve and maintain this preferred supplier status, we must provide cost–effective, state–of–the–art
solutions to our customers, in a timely manner, while consistently meeting their quality, reliability, and
service requirements. We ensure that all products and services receive optimum attention to detail, from
conception to delivery.
We are committed to sustaining a corporate culture that strives for risk management, defect-free
performance, verification of effectiveness and continuous improvement, and which extends to all our
activities as well as to our supply chain partners.
Achieving Quality is the responsibility of all Altera employees, managers, directors, and officers. To
achieve our corporate goals, we must:
conform to all applicable procedures and specifications,
produce quality work,
monitor the performance of our business processes against current quality goals,
derive and implement quality improvements from this performance analysis.
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Altera Quality Systems
Altera has a closed-loop quality and reliability system that conforms to the requirements of ISO
9001:2008, MIL-I-45208 and JEDEC® standards. Altera and all of its major suppliers are ISO 9000
certified. Altera’s Reliability qualification and monitoring programs are also governed by internal
specifications, which define procedures, pass/fail requirements, and corrective actions. Altera has been
ISO9001 certified since October, 1994.
Altera is able to provide the automotive supply chain with the highest levels of quality and
reliability because all of Altera’s foundry, assembly and test partners are certified and registered to the
ISO/TS 16949 automotive industry quality standard.
Altera conducts automotive product qualification which complies with requirements listed in the AEC-
Q100 document.
Altera performs comprehensive testing and manufacturing controls on all its products. Figure 1 shows a
typical product manufacturing flow.
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Figure 1: Typical Product Flow Chart
Wafer Fabrication
All Critical Process Steps under SPC Control
Wafer Inspection
Visual and E-test, Sample 100% of all lots
Wafer Sort 1
DC Parametrics, Functionality Programmability, Non-
Volatile Margin or SRAM Configuration
Data Retention Bake
245°C, 48 hours for all EPROM, EEPROM, and FLASH
products
Wafer Sort 2
Margin Test EPROM, EEPROM, and FLASH (except
MAX II & V) products
Assembly
2nd, 3rd, and 4th Optical Sample Inspections, Inline
Mark
Final Test
AC and DC Parametrics, Functionality,
Programmability or SRAM Configuration
QA Electrical
Mark
As Required
Visual Inspection
Including machine inspection of all packages > 44
leads.
QA Inspection
Inner Box and Transfer to
Finished Goods
Bake and Bag per Specification
Plant Clearance, Outer Box,
and Ship
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Reliability Methodology
Reliability qualifications and monitoring are performed specifically for each product family. All
members of a product family utilize the same circuit architecture, fabrication process, and share the
same package types. See the list and description of Altera Product Families in Table I.
Table I: Product Family Description
PRODUCT FAMILY
TECHNOLOGY
WAFER PROCESS
Stratix® V, Arria® V, Cyclone® V
FPGA
0.028um
Stratix IV, Arria II GX, HardCopy® III, HardCopy IV
FPGA
0.040um
FPGA
0.065/0.060um
Stratix III, Cyclone III, Cyclone IV
FPGA
0.090um
Stratix II, Stratix II GX, Cyclone II, Arria GX, HardCopy II
FPGA
0.13um
Stratix, Stratix GX, Cyclone, HardCopy
FPGA
0.15um
APEX™ 20KC, APEX II, Mercury
FPGA
0.18um
APEX 20KE, Mercury™, Excalibur™
FLEX® 10KE, FLEX 10KS, ACEX, APEX 20K
FPGA
0.22um
FPGA
0.3/0.35um
FLEX 10KA, FLEX 6000A
FPGA
0.42um
FLEX 8000, FLEX 10K, FLEX 6000
MAX® II, MAX V
CPLD/FLASH
0.18um
CPLD/EEPROM 0.22um
MAX 7000B
CPLD/EEPROM 0.3/0.35um
MAX 7000A, MAX 3000A
CPLD/EEPROM 0.5um
MAX 7000, MAX 9000
0.5um
EPROM
EPC1
0.11/0.15/0.065um
EPCS1, EPCS4, EPCS16, EPCS64, EPCS128
FLASH
EPCQ16, EPCQ32, EPCQ64, EPCQ128, EPCQ256, EPCQ512 FLASH
0.065um
0.35/0.4um
FLASH
EPC2, EPC4, EPC8, EPC18
PowerSoC
EP5300, EN5300, EN6300 (5V and 6V devices )
0.25um
EN2300*, EC2630** (12 V device)
PowerSoC
0.18/0.25um/0.35um
EV1320, EV1340, EV1380 (1.8V device)
PowerSoC
0.18/0.25um
*Package contains 2 dies with different processes 0.18 and 0.25um
** Product built on 0.35um wafer technology.
A product family will contain several products, all based upon the same logic elements, embedded
storage elements, and programmable interconnect technology. For reliability purposes such as data
reporting and failure rate prediction, a product family will be reported as much as possible on a
fabrication process technology.
Product families are qualified based upon the requirements specified in Table II. Product family
qualification will include products with a range of densities, package types, and package lead counts.
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If a new product is added to the product family with a significant increase (more than 50%) in logic
elements, a product qualification will be performed.
Reliability monitors are performed on a regular basis in order to assure that Altera’s normal production
testing and process control methodologies produce reliable products. The reliability monitor program is
also based upon a product family methodology.
Altera has a product reliability goal for long term failure rate. The long term failure rate is listed as
<200 FIT’s at 55°C use condition. Inherent in this requirement are two key components:
Product needs to meet lifetime goal of 100,000 hrs of useful life
The wear-out mechanisms are outside of the useful life of the product.
Different products and package types are procured from normal production on a Last in First out
(LIFO) schedule to monitor product reliability. Results in this report cover data gathered at least in the
last 36 months. For life-test, the report covers a much larger period to assess FIT numbers more
accurately.
Reliability monitor sampling is defined in Table III. Reliability monitor schedules depend on the
maturity of the product:
A) Minimum of 1 lot per quarter for new product in production since less than 5 years
B) Minimum of 1 lot per year for mature products in production for more than 5 years.
All new results shown in this reliability report compared to previous version appear upfront in each
table of results and are highlighted in a different color and font.
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