An approach to dynamic power consumption current testing of CMOS ICs

© 1995 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.I/sub DDQ/ testing is a powerful strategy for detecting defects that do not alter the logic behavior of CMOS ICs. Such a technique is very effective especially in the detection of bridging defects although some opens can be also detected. However, an important set of open and parametric defects escape quiescent power supply current testing because they prevent current elevation. Extending the consumption current testing time, from the static period to the dynamic one (i.e. considering the transient current), defects not covered with I/sub DDQ/ can be detected. Simulations using an on-chip sensor show that this technique can reach a high coverage for defects preventing current and also for those raising the static power consumption.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Quantifying Near-Threshold CMOS Circuit Robustness

In order to build energy efficient digital CMOS circuits, the supply voltage must be reduced to near-threshold. Problematically, due to random parameter variation, supply scaling reduces circuit robustness to noise. Moreover, the effects of parameter variation worsen as device dimensions diminish, further reducing robustness, and making parameter variation one of the most significant hurdles to continued CMOS scaling. This paper presents a new metric to quantify circuit robustness with respect to variation and noise along with an efficient method of calculation. The method relies on the statistical analysis of standard cells and memories resulting an an extremely compact representation of robustness data. With this metric and method of calculation, circuit robustness can be included alongside energy, delay, and area during circuit design and optimization

Fault modeling, delay evaluation and path selection for delay test under process variation in nano-scale VLSI circuits

Delay test in nano-scale VLSI circuits becomes more difficult with shrinking technology feature sizes and rising clock frequencies. In this dissertation, we study three challenging issues in delay test: fault modeling, variational delay evaluation and path selection under process variation. Previous research of fault modeling on resistive spot defects, such as resistive opens and bridges in the interconnect, and resistive shorts in devices, lacked an accurate fault model. As a result it was difficult to perform fault simulation and select the best vectors. Conventional methods to compute variational delay under process variation are either slow or inaccurate. On the problem of path selection under process variation, previous approaches either choose too many paths, or missed the path that is necessary to be tested. We present new solutions in this dissertation. A new fault model that clearly and comprehensively expresses the relationship between electrical behaviors and resistive spots is proposed. Then the effect of process variations on path delays is modeled with a linear function and a fast method to compute coefficients of the linear function is also derived. Finally, we present the new path pruning algorithms that efficiently prune unimportant paths for test, and as a result we select as few as possible paths for test while the fault coverage is satisfied. The experimental results show that the new solutions are efficient and accurate

An efficient logic fault diagnosis framework based on effect-cause approach

Fault diagnosis plays an important role in improving the circuit design process and the manufacturing yield. With the increasing number of gates in modern circuits, determining the source of failure in a defective circuit is becoming more and more challenging. In this research, we present an efficient effect-cause diagnosis framework for combinational VLSI circuits. The framework consists of three stages to obtain an accurate and reasonably precise diagnosis. First, an improved critical path tracing algorithm is proposed to identify an initial suspect list by backtracing from faulty primary outputs toward primary inputs. Compared to the traditional critical path tracing approach, our algorithm is faster and exact. Second, a novel probabilistic ranking model is applied to rank the suspects so that the most suspicious one will be ranked at or near the top. Several fast filtering methods are used to prune unrelated suspects. Finally, to refine the diagnosis, fault simulation is performed on the top suspect nets using several common fault models. The difference between the observed faulty behavior and the simulated behavior is used to rank each suspect. Experimental results on ISCAS85 benchmark circuits show that this diagnosis approach is efficient both in terms of memory space and CPU time and the diagnosis results are accurate and reasonably precise

Test estructural i predictiu per a circuits RF CMOS

En aquesta tesi s’ha desenvolupat una tècnica de test que permet testar un LNA i un mesclador, situats en el capçal RF d’un receptor CMOS, en una configuració de test semblant al mode normal de funcionament. La circuiteria necessària per a implementar aquesta tècnica consta d’un generador IF, per a generar el senyal IF de test, i d’un mesclador auxiliar, per a obtenir el senyal RF de test. Les observables de test escollides han estat l’amplitud de la tensió de sortida del mesclador i el component DC del corrent de consum. S’ha estudiat l’eficàcia de la tècnica de test proposada utilitzant les estratègies de test estructural i predictiu, mitjançant simulacions i mesures experimentals. La seva eficàcia és comparable a altres tècniques de test existents, però l’àrea addicional dedicada a la circuiteria test és inferior.En esta tesis se ha desarrollado una técnica de test que permite verificar un LNA y un mezclador, situados en el cabezal RF de un receptor CMOS, en una configuración de test similar al modo normal de funcionamiento. Los circuitos necesarios para implementar esta técnica son: un generador IF, que permite generar la señal IF de test, y un mezclador auxiliar, para obtener la señal RF de test. Las observables de test seleccionadas han sido la amplitud de la tensión de salida y la componente DC de la corriente de consumo. Se ha estudiado la eficacia de la técnica propuesta usando las estrategias de test estructural y predictiva, mediante simulaciones y medidas experimentales. Su eficacia es comparable a otras técnicas existentes, pero el área dedicada a la circuiteria de test es inferior.This PhD thesis develops a test technique intended for the RF front end of CMOS integrated receivers. This test technique allows testing individually the building blocks of the receiver in a sequential way. The test mode configuration of each block is similar to the normal mode operation. The auxiliary circuitry required to generate the test stimuli consists of an IF generator, which generates the IF test signal, and an auxiliary mixer that produces the RF test signal by mixing the IF test signal with the local oscillator signal. The test observables selected for the test are the voltage amplitude after the IF amplifier, and the DC component of the supply current in each block. The capability of the proposed test technique to perform structural and predictive test strategies has been validated by simulation and experimentally. Its efficiency is comparable to other existing techniques, but the silicon area overhead is lower

A SCANNING SQUID MICROSCOPE FOR IMAGING HIGH-FREQUENCY MAGNETIC FIELDS

This thesis examines the design and operation of a large-bandwidth scanning SQUID microscope for spatially imaging high frequency magnetic fields. Towards this end, I present results on a cryo-cooled 4.2 K scanning SQUID microscope with a bandwidth of dc to 2 GHz and a sensitivity of about 52.4 nT per sample. By using a thin-film hysteretic Nb dc-SQUID and a pulsed sampling technique, rather than a non-hysteretic SQUID and a flux-locked loop, the bandwidth limitation of existing scanning SQUID microscopes is overcome. The microscope allows for non-contact images of time-varying magnetic field to be taken of room-temperature samples with time steps down to 50 ps and spatial resolution ultimately limited by the size of the SQUID to about 10 micrometers. The new readout scheme involves repeatedly pulsing the bias current to the dc SQUID while the voltage across the SQUID is monitored. Using a fixed pulse amplitude and applying a fixed dc magnetic flux allows the SQUID to measure the applied magnetic flux with a sampling time set by the pulse length of about 400 ps. To demonstrate the capabilities of the microscope, I imaged magnetic fields from 0 Hz (static fields) up to 4 GHz. Samples included a magnetic loop, microstrip transmission lines, and microstrip lines with a break in order to identify and isolate electrical opens in circuits. Finally, I discuss the operation and modeling of the SQUID and how to further increase the bandwidth of the microscope to allow bandwidth of upwards of 10 GHz

Étude de faisabilité d'une méthodologie de test exploitant le test par le courant IDDQ, et l'intéraction d'autres méthodes de test de diagnostic

Cette thèse porte globalement sur l'élaboration d'une méthodologie permettant d'améliorer le test des circuits intégrés (CI), et ce, en utilisant des concepts propres au diagnostic et en se basant sur l'interacfion des méthodes de test existantes. Le premier objectif de cette thèse est la généralisation plus poussée de la méthode de diagnostic basée sur les signatures probabilistes du courant AIDDQ, et ce, à plusieurs niveaux. D'une part, nous avons développé plusieurs modèles de pannes de courts-circuits incluant la totalité des types de portes logiques de la technologie CMOS 0.35|xm. D'autre part, nous avons amélioré la technique de réduction des sites physiques de courts-circuits; nous parlons de celle basée sur les résultats des sorties erronées du circuit sous test obtenus à l'aide de son émulation (ou son test). Cette technique supportait des circuits purement combinatoires. L'améliorafion apportée permet maintenant d'ufiliser cette technique sur des circuits séquentiels. Nous avons également présenté les derniers résultats de réduction des sites de court-circuit, et ce. en se basant sur les signatures AIDDQ, les capacités parasites de routage extraites du dessin des masques et les erreurs logiques observées à la sortie du circuit, et ce, pour les technologies 0.35|a.m et 90nm. La combinaison de ces trois techniques réduit significativement le nombre de sites de courts-circuits à considérer dans le diagnostic. Les résultats de simulation confirment que le nombre de sites de court-circuit est réduit de O(N') à 0(N), où N est le nombre de noeuds dans le circuit. Du coté de l'outil logiciel permettant l'émulation de la méthode de diagnostic proposée, nous avons complété sa conception, et nous avons défini les conditions permettant son utilisation dans un environnement de test en temps réel. Le deuxième objectif de cette thèse est l'introduction d'une nouvelle stratégie d'optimisation pour le test adaptatif de haute qualité. La stratégie proposée permet dans un premier temps de couvrir les pannes qui habituellement ne causent pas une consommation anormale du courant IDDQ avec le minimum de vecteurs possibles qui sont appliqués à tous les circuits; et dans un deuxième temps, propose deux pistes de traitement pour les pannes qui habituellement causent une élévation du courant IDDQ- Le traitement a priori (prévision) est basé sur l'ajout d'autres vecteurs de test pour couvrir les sites non couverts par les tests logiques ou de délais. Le traitement a posteriori (guérison) est basé sur un diagnostic rapide sur les sites non couverts. Nous faisons appel à la méthode de diagnostic proposée avec quelques modifications. Ce traitement correspond à une stratégie d'optimisation visant à n'appliquer les vecteurs supplémentaires que sur les CI montrant des symptômes particuliers