Page 395 - A Practical Guide from Design Planning to Manufacturing

Glossary 365

Etch selectivity The ratio of etch rates between the layer to be removed and
the material beneath it.
Etching Physical and chemical means of removing a material layer.
E-test Electrical test.
EUV Extreme ultraviolet.
Exception A redirection of program flow caused by an unusual event during
the execution of an instruction that would not normally alter the control flow.
An example is redirection of the program to an error handling routine upon a
division by zero.
Explicitly parallel instruction computing (EPIC) A computer architecture
designed to allow more instructions per cycle by encoding the instructions with
information showing which can be executed in parallel. The architecture used
by the Itanium family of processors.
Extended precision A binary floating-point number format using 80 bits.
External lead The part of a package lead outside the die encapsulation.
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography Photolithography using wavelengths
as short as 13.5 nm.
Fanout The ratio between the total capacitive load being driven by a gate and
the capacitance of one of that gate’s inputs. The higher the fanout of a gate, the
larger its delay.
Fault exception An exception that after being called retries the instruction that
caused the exception.
Fault model The type of defect being assumed during automatic test pattern
generation. The most common fault model is the stuck-at model, which assumes
inputs of each gate may be permanently fixed at high or low voltages.
FC Flip-chip.
FF Flip-flop.
FIB Focused ion beam.
Field programmable gate array (FPGA) An integrated circuit designed as an
array of generic logic gates and programmable storage sequentials, which allows
the logic function being performed to be dynamically reconfigured. In processor
design, FPGAs are commonly used to allow high-speed simulation of designs
before they are fabricated.
FireWire A peripheral bus standard common among digital video cameras
and recorders. Also called IEEE 1394.
First silicon The arrival of the first finished chips of a new integrated circuit
design.
Flame retardant material type 4 (FR4) A fiberglass material commonly used
to make printed circuit boards.