Mr Aaron Silvestri

I’m an electrical and electronic engineer from Perth, currently working as a research engineer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA). My work is on semiconductors, where I am working with a team investigating the response of Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductors, or CMOS, to high power microwave (HPM) signal injection. When HPM signals are applied to semiconductor devices, a range of negative responses are known to occur ranging from temporary disruption to permanent damage.

The project involved designing and importing custom integrated circuits – electronic circuits fabricated on semiconductor material such as silicon, which are then experimented on here at our HPM facility. Here is a closeup of one with a $2 coin beside it for scale.

At 2×3.5 mm, the device is tiny. Although small, it contains several CMOS test structures and other fundamental semiconductor structures such as NMOS, PMOS, BJTs, and diodes. These are the machines that produce “ones and zeros,” or logic and other essential functions required by phones, computers, and 99% of electronic devices to operate.

The research goal is to better understand a specific failure mechanism known as “latch-up” to which all CMOS are susceptible. Latch-up is characterized by a huge increase in device power consumption and temperature, and is due to the activation of an inherent parasitic device within the CMOS structure. In this case the structure is activated by an HPM signal. If allowed to remain in the state unabated, latch-up will permanently damage the devices physical structure and result in loss of functionality. We intend to learn about this phenomenon by developing tests that can induce the device into latch-up and capture any useful information

Through this research project, the failure mechanisms prone to CMOS devices may be better understood, so that protection schemes can be developed for the electronics systems so much of our society is dependant on.

If you want to learn more about this project, here is a link to the the Australian Defence, Science, and Technology Group’s webpage which gives greater detail on the scope and other objectives. For learning about latch-up, this whitepaper by Texas Instruments has a great explanation of the mechanism behind triggering the event, and includes other information relevant to the topic.