Research interests



The scientific activity of Professor Bruno Riccò is dedicated to advanced CMOS sub-micron technologies, can be sub-divided into two main fields, electron devices and integrated circuits, and includes both experimental and theoretical aspects.

Prof. Riccò has (co-)authored over 200 publications, about half of which published on major international Journals.

He is also author of 6 international patents, concerning CMOS structures and circuits.


Electron Devices
In this field, Professor Riccò activity has primarily concerned the physics and reliability of sub-micron MOSFETs and Non-Volatile Memories.
In particular, significant he has done significant work on CMOS latch-up, electron transport in the high field regime, hot electron effects in sub-micron MOSFETs, electron tunneling in MOS structures, physics and reliability of ultra-thin SiO2 films, characterization of parasitic elements in sub-micron MOSFETs.

On the theoretical side, his work has included pioneering studies of: high field transport in MOSFETs (with use of the Monte Carlo technique); quantum effects in tunneling MOS structures (requiring the solution of Poisson's and Schroedinger's equations); dynamic electron trapping in silicon dioxide.

As for experiments, he has used and developed original techniques such as, for instance, AC techniques for the extraction of parasitic elements from I-V characteristics of MOS devices, methods to determine oxide thickness, transistor parasitic resistances and capacitances and gate depletion of deep sub-micron MOS structures.


Integrated Circuits
The work in this field Professor Riccò started with research on fault modeling and simulation and innovative Design-for-Testability techniques aimed at detecting non-stuck-at faults (in particular bridgings).

Later, he was involved also in more theoretical topics, such as, in particular, signature analysis testing as well as in studies at higher and representation level. Research on Self-checking and Fault-Tolerant architectures, CMOS power simulation and modeling, synthesis for low power, adjustable analog circuits (exploting Non-Volatile Memories) are representative of Professor Riccò's later interest in ICs.

In this field too, experiments have played an essential role.
In particular, a number of test chips have been designed, realized and tested in order to verify theoretical and original ideas.

Recently, Professor Riccò has started to work on parametrically adjustable digital circuits.



Highlights of the Scientific Achievements
  • First theory of electronic transport in polycristalline silicon films (1978).
  • Introduction of the concept of dynamic electron trapping in Si-SiO2 thin films in the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling regime (1983, 1986).
  • Introduction of the model of resonant tunneling breakdown in Si-SiO2 thin films (1983).
  • Significant contributions to the physics of resonant tunneling in double barrier diodes (1984, 1985).
  • Significant contributions to the interpretation and simulation of poly-emitter bipolar transitors (1984).
  • Pioneering work in low-voltage hot electron injection in MOSFETS (1985).
  • Introduction of a new technique to determine the thickness of Si-SiO2 thin films from electrical measurements (1988).
  • Discovery of Stress-induced low-voltage leakage (SILC) in thin Si-SiO2 films (1988).
  • Introduction of a new technique to extract series resistances from I -V characteristics of MOSFETs (1989).
  • Pioneering work in Monte Carlo simulation of MOS transistors (1987, 1988).
  • Significant contributions to the study of latch-up (first chracterization of the 3D current distribution and discovery of an hysteresis cycle in the wide transistor stuctures) (1988, 1989).
  • Pioneering work in the use of frequency-resolved spectroscopy to study the energy distribution of hot carriers in MOSFETs (1989, 1991).
  • First exact treatment of aliasing errors in signature analysis for IC testing (1990).
  • First simulation of EPROM writing (1991).
  • First exact theory of quantum effects in the accumulation layer of Si-SiO2 tunnel diodes and derivation of a compact model for EEPROMs (1992).
  • Introduction of a novel technique for controlled programming of tunnel-based floating gate MOSFETs (1994).
  • Novel characterization methods for parasitic elements (overlap capacitances, gate depletion) in sub-micromentric MOSFETs


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