Application of VR/AR technology for visualisation of

Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 16, Nos. 6/7/8/9/10, 2019 569

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Application of VR/AR technology for visualisation of radiation tolerance of VLSI

V.A. Shakhnov*, V.V. Kazakov, A.A. Glushko, E.V. Rezchikova, B.S. Sorokin, T.A. Tsivinskaya, V.A. Verstov and L.A. Zinchenko Department of Design and Technology Production of Electronic Devices, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 2-d Baumanskaya Street, 5/1, Moscow, 105005, Russia Fax: + (499)2674844 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Abstract: A correct perception of a link between the heavily charged particles parameters and radiation tolerance of very large integrated circuits is one of the main problems in design of electronic equipment for space applications. In the paper, methods of augmented/virtual reality applications for research of radiation damage on very large integrated circuits (VLSI) are introduced. A transfer function design for correct visual representation is discussed. In the paper, we assume transfer function transforms the number of particles damaging a chip to a colour from green to red. The red colour means that the chip has been damaged. The green image means the initial conditions. We discuss features of augmented reality realisation with minimal hardware requirements. Our tool can help engineers to compare alternative design solutions.

Keywords: augmented reality; virtual reality; visualisation; VLSI; very large integrated circuits; radiation; space; software.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Shakhnov, V.A., Kazakov, V.V., Glushko, A.A., Rezchikova, E.V., Sorokin, B.S., Tsivinskaya, T.A., Verstov, V.A. and Zinchenko, L.A. (2019) ‘Application of VR/AR technology for visualisation of radiation tolerance of VLSI’, Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 16, Nos. 6/7/8/9/10, pp.569–575.

Biographical notes: V.A. Shakhnov received his degree in Electrical Engineering in 1966 from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, USSR. He joined the Bauman Moscow State Technical University as a Full Professor in 1991. He is an associated member of Russian Academy of Science

570 V.A. Shakhnov et al.

since 2008. Now, he is a Head of Department and a Chair of Nanoscale Engineering Council of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. He is the author of 10 books and 200+ journal and conference papers. His research interests include VLSI physical layout and circuit design, nanoscale engineering, sensors, and power electronics.

V.V. Kazakov obtained his BSc in 2018 from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. His research interests include data visualisation and cognitive aspects of perception.

A.A. Glushko received his PhD in Automated Designed Systems at Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) in 2012; at 2009 he graduated from BMSTU. He has been an Assistant Professor at Computer Science and Control Systems Department since 2013. His professional interests are in area of automated designed systems, TCAD simulation, semiconductor devices, integration of different CADs for difficult tasks solving, radiation simulation of heavy ions penetration into semiconductor devices, optimisation tasks and calibration of TCAD models, BYOD technologies in higher education system. At present his work is associated with simulation of high-voltage technology semiconductor device, simulation of neutrons in semiconductor devices, mainly, in MOSFETs.

E.V. Rezchikova obtained Engineer degree in 1973 and PhD in 1985 from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russia. She works as an Associated Professor of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Her scientific activities are nanoengineering, VLSI design, cognitive technology for creative activities in engineering and informatics.

B.S. Sorokin obtained MSc in 2016 from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. He is a PhD student, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. His research activities include informatics, networks and computer science.

T.A. Tsivinskaya obtained Appl. BSc. She is a Teaching Assistant, Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Her research interests include sensor design and manufacturing.

V.A. Verstov obtained Engineer Degree in 2012 and PhD in 2016 from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. He works as an Associated Professor of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. His scientific activities are VLSI design, informatics and nanoengineering , informatics and data processing.

L.A. Zinchenko obtained Engineer degree in 1987 from the Taganrog State RadioTechnical University, Taganrog, Russia. She obtained PhD in 1993 from the Southern Russian Technical University, Novocherkassk, Russia. She obtained Doctorate degree in 2000 from the High Attestation Committee, Russia. She works as a Professor of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Her scientific activities are nanoengineering, VLSI design, and informatics.

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Application of VR technology for visualization of radiation tolerance of VLSI’ presented at X Conference of Nanotechnological Society of Russia, Moscow, Russia, 26–28 March, 2019.

Application of VR/AR technology for visualisation 571

1 Introduction

A correct perception of heavily charged particles parameters roles on radiation damage of the very large integrated circuits (VLSI) is one of the main problems. A possible solution is application of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology (AR/VR) [1,2].

It should be noted that models in AR/VR can be both dynamic and static. They can be used for different goals. AR technology allows to link a 3D object and a marker from the real world. A computer image or a picture/photo can be used as a marker. The markers can be printed or displayed at a monitor. In addition, it is also possible to add parameters: physical and chemical features of materials, graphs, numeric data, etc.

Currently, AR/VR tools can be implemented for mobile devices (Android and iOS operating systems) and for computers (Windows, Linux and MacOS operating systems). It seems, that the most convenient solution for effective AR implementation is smartphones and AR helmets, such as HoloLens by Microsoft [3] and Magic Leap One [4]. However, due to expensive process of VR helmets integration, tools for smartphones seems to be the cheapest decision.

The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 introduces a transfer function to demonstrates radiation effects on VLSI. This function calculates the accumulated radiation fluence to a correspondent colour. In Section 3, our tool is presented. Finally, conclusions are derived.

2 A representation approach

A colour-based visualisation approach was chosen to demonstrate radiation effects on VLSI.

The maximum and current energy fluence are calculated according to equations [5], namely the amount of energy transferred by the particles through the surface of the elementary sphere. This energy is absorbed by the irradiated material that determines the damaging effect. The amount of damage depends on the flux power of the particle flow, the angle of contact with the surface, the stability of the crystal lattice or molecular structure of the main materials and the viscosity of the intermediate material of the protective case. This property of different materials or a combination of materials allows you to use the change in the absorbed dose for the purpose of visualisation.

The colour range is changed from green to red. The green colour means the initial conditions, while the red colour means that a chip has been damaged.

A correspondent colour is given in RGB format. Therefore, the proposed transfer function is given as follows:

max ,max

, , 1 ,max0.

V VRV

VR G B GV

B

− == = −

=

(1)


where

R represents the red component of the colour

G represents the green component of the colour

B represents the blue component of the colour;

maxV is equal to the maximal fluence

V is equal to the current fluence.

Figure 1 illustrates the proposed transfer function. Each value in the range from 0 to maxV is calculated to a value in the range RGB = <0,1,0> (green) to RGB = <1,0,0> (Red).

Figure 1 The proposed approach (see online version for colours)

3 AR/VR radiation VLSI modeller

We collected the required use cases. The correspondent UML diagram in shown in Figure 2.

It includes the following use cases.

• Define markers in camera view.

• Determine the orientation and the markers position.

• Determine the distance of the camera from the markers, bind the corresponding three-dimensional objects to markers coordinates in the real world.

• Display three-dimensional objects on the device screen.

• Update the position of the labels and the position of the three-dimensional objects the device screen.

• Generate particles from the current position of the source in a random direction.


• Calculate positions of each generated particle, visualise it on device screen. If the particle cross a chip, calculate the correspondent fluence.

• Use the proposed transfer function to calculate the current colour.

Our tool is able to demonstrate a case study in different views. A view angle and a zoom level are changed automatically according to the current position of the smartphone in the real space. It should be noted that these actions are quick and intuitive. They are similar to activities in the real world.

Figure 2 Correspondent UML diagram

Our tool demonstrates radiation tolerance of VLSI. Figure 3 shows an example for Android operating system. We assume that heavily charged particles are generated randomly with different angles. The spherical shape source generates particles randomly in any directions. A ion track is shown in blue dots.

Figure 3 shows two VLSI with different levels of radiation protection. The chip in the black package is commercial. It should be noted that the image is used to link the object and the real world. The grey package contains the radiation-hardened chip that has been designed using the special methods, for example, multi-layer packaging or special radiation-resistant elements, some of these practices for chip development were described in [5,6]. The corresponding image of the chip is used to link the object and the real world.

Figure 4 shows the corresponding markers to link the objects and the real world.


Figure 3 Example of augmented reality technology application (see online version for colours)

Figure 4 The markers using in the tool: (1) the radiation hardened chip; (2) the commercial chip and (3) the source of radiation (see online version for colours)

A corresponding box changes its colour during the simulation process, starting from green colour and then the red component is increased. Therefore, it is easy to observe a process of the absorbed dose change and to fix chips that can be damaged primarily.

4 Conclusion

Application of VR/AR technology allows to visualise radiation damage effects on VLSI. Our tool can be used by designers to observe the absorbed dose change. In addition, alternative design solutions and different radiation protections methods can be compared. Our tool can be used for Windows, Linux, Android and iOS operating systems.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by RFBR 18-29-18043.


References 1 Velichkovsky, B.M. (2006) Cognitive Science: Foundations of Epistemic Psychology,

Academia. 2 Shakhnov, V., Zinchenko, L. and Rezchikova, E. (2014) ‘Simulation and visualization in

cognitive nanoinformatics’, Int. J. Math. Comput. Simul., Vol. 8, pp.141–147. 3 Microsoft HoloLens | Mixed Reality Technology for Business, https://www.microsoft.com/en-

ca/hololens (Accessed 17 April, 2019). 4 Magic Leap One: Creator Edition | Magic Leap, https://www.magicleap.com/magic-leap-one

(Accessed 17 April, 2019). 5 Alexandrov, P.A., Zhuk, V.I. and Litvinov, V.L. (2019) Methods for Constructing Fault-

Tolerant Digital Chips and Evaluation of Their Failure Caused by Radiation, Moscow, Porog. 6 Glushko, A.A., Zinchenko, L.A. and Shakhnov V.A. (2015) ‘Simulation of the impact of

heavy charged particles on the characteristics of field-effect silicon-on-insulator transistors’, J. Commun. Technol. El., Vol. 60, pp.1134–1140.

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