Interconnect yield analysis and fault tolerance for field programmable gate arrays

Imperial Users onl

Evaluation of advanced techniques for structural FPGA self-test

This thesis presents a comprehensive test generation framework for FPGA logic elements and interconnects. It is based on and extends the current state-of-the-art. The purpose of FPGA testing in this work is to achieve reliable reconfiguration for a FPGA-based runtime reconfigurable system. A pre-configuration test is performed on a portion of the FPGA before it is reconfigured as part of the system to ensure that the FPGA fabric is fault-free. The implementation platform is the Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA family. Existing literature in FPGA testing is evaluated and reviewed thoroughly. The various approaches are compared against one another qualitatively and the approach most suitable to the target platform is chosen. The array testing method is employed in testing the FPGA logic for its low hardware overhead and optimal test time. All tests are additionally pipelined to reduce test application time and use a high test clock frequency. A hybrid fault model including both structural and functional faults is assumed. An algorithm for the optimization of the number of required FPGA test configurations is developed and implemented in Java using a pseudo-random set-covering heuristic. Optimal solutions are obtained for Virtex-5 logic slices. The algorithm effort is parameterizable with the number of loop iterations each of which take approximately one second for a Virtex-5 sliceL circuit. A flexible test architecture for interconnects is developed. Arbitrary wire types can be tested in the same test configuration with no hardware overhead. Furthermore, a routing algorithm is integrated with the test template generation to select the wires under test and route them appropriately. Nine test configurations are required to achieve full test coverage for the FPGA logic. For interconnect testing, a local router-based on depth-first graph traversal is implemented in Java as the basis for creating systematic interconnect test templates. Pent wire testing is additionally implemented as a proof of concept. The test clock frequency for all tests exceeds 170 MHz and the hardware overhead is always lower than seven CLBs. All implemented tests are parameterizable such that they can be applied to any portion of the FPGA regardless of size or position

Delay Measurements and Self Characterisation on FPGAs

This thesis examines new timing measurement methods for self delay characterisation of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) components and delay measurement of complex circuits on FPGAs. Two novel measurement techniques based on analysis of a circuit's output failure rate and transition probability is proposed for accurate, precise and efficient measurement of propagation delays. The transition probability based method is especially attractive, since it requires no modifications in the circuit-under-test and requires little hardware resources, making it an ideal method for physical delay analysis of FPGA circuits. The relentless advancements in process technology has led to smaller and denser transistors in integrated circuits. While FPGA users benefit from this in terms of increased hardware resources for more complex designs, the actual productivity with FPGA in terms of timing performance (operating frequency, latency and throughput) has lagged behind the potential improvements from the improved technology due to delay variability in FPGA components and the inaccuracy of timing models used in FPGA timing analysis. The ability to measure delay of any arbitrary circuit on FPGA offers many opportunities for on-chip characterisation and physical timing analysis, allowing delay variability to be accurately tracked and variation-aware optimisations to be developed, reducing the productivity gap observed in today's FPGA designs. The measurement techniques are developed into complete self measurement and characterisation platforms in this thesis, demonstrating their practical uses in actual FPGA hardware for cross-chip delay characterisation and accurate delay measurement of both complex combinatorial and sequential circuits, further reinforcing their positions in solving the delay variability problem in FPGAs

Embryonic Architecture with Built-in Self-test and GA Evolved Configuration Data

The embryonic architecture, which draws inspirationfrom the biological process of ontogeny, has built-inmechanisms for self-repair. The entire genome is stored in theembryonic cells, allowing the data to be replicated in healthycells in the event of a single cell failure in the embryonic fabric.A specially designed genetic algorithm (GA) is used to evolve theconfiguration information for embryonic cells. Any failed embryoniccell must be indicated via the proposed Built-in Self-test(BIST) the module of the embryonic fabric. This paper recommendsan effective centralized BIST design for a novel embryonic fabric.Every embryonic cell is scanned by the proposed BIST in casethe self-test mode is activated. The centralized BIST design usesless hardware than if it were integrated into each embryoniccell. To reduce the size of the data, the genome or configurationdata of each embryonic cell is decoded using Cartesian GeneticProgramming (CGP). The GA is tested for the 1-bit adder and2-bit comparator circuits that are implemented in the embryoniccell. Fault detection is possible at every function of the cell due tothe BIST module’s design. The CGP format can also offer gate-levelfault detection. Customized GA and BIST are combinedwith the novel embryonic architecture. In the embryonic cell, self-repairis accomplished via data scrubbing for transient errors

New Techniques to Reduce the Execution Time of Functional Test Programs

The compaction of test programs for processor-based systems is of utmost practical importance: Software-Based Self-Test (SBST) is nowadays increasingly adopted, especially for in-field test of safety-critical applications, and both the size and the execution time of the test are critical parameters. However, while compacting the size of binary test sequences has been thoroughly studied over the years, the reduction of the execution time of test programs is still a rather unexplored area of research. This paper describes a family of algorithms able to automatically enhance an existing test program, reducing the time required to run it and, as a side effect, its size. The proposed solutions are based on instruction removal and restoration, which is shown to be computationally more efficient than instruction removal alone. Experimental results demonstrate the compaction capabilities, and allow analyzing computational costs and effectiveness of the different algorithms

CROSS-LAYER DESIGN, OPTIMIZATION AND PROTOTYPING OF NoCs FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF HOMOGENEOUS MANY-CORE SYSTEMS

This thesis provides a whole set of design methods to enable and manage the runtime heterogeneity of features-rich industry-ready Tile-Based Networkon- Chips at different abstraction layers (Architecture Design, Network Assembling, Testing of NoC, Runtime Operation). The key idea is to maintain the functionalities of the original layers, and to improve the performance of architectures by allowing, joint optimization and layer coordinations. In general purpose systems, we address the microarchitectural challenges by codesigning and co-optimizing feature-rich architectures. In application-specific NoCs, we emphasize the event notification, so that the platform is continuously under control. At the network assembly level, this thesis proposes a Hold Time Robustness technique, to tackle the hold time issue in synchronous NoCs. At the network architectural level, the choice of a suitable synchronization paradigm requires a boost of synthesis flow as well as the coexistence with the DVFS. On one hand this implies the coexistence of mesochronous synchronizers in the network with dual-clock FIFOs at network boundaries. On the other hand, dual-clock FIFOs may be placed across inter-switch links hence removing the need for mesochronous synchronizers. This thesis will study the implications of the above approaches both on the design flow and on the performance and power quality metrics of the network. Once the manycore system is composed together, the issue of testing it arises. This thesis takes on this challenge and engineers various testing infrastructures. At the upper abstraction layer, the thesis addresses the issue of managing the fully operational system and proposes a congestion management technique named HACS. Moreover, some of the ideas of this thesis will undergo an FPGA prototyping. Finally, we provide some features for emerging technology by characterizing the power consumption of Optical NoC Interfaces

Implementation of a real-time industrial web scanning system hardware architecture

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Programmable photonics : an opportunity for an accessible large-volume PIC ecosystem

We look at the opportunities presented by the new concepts of generic programmable photonic integrated circuits (PIC) to deploy photonics on a larger scale. Programmable PICs consist of waveguide meshes of tunable couplers and phase shifters that can be reconfigured in software to define diverse functions and arbitrary connectivity between the input and output ports. Off-the-shelf programmable PICs can dramatically shorten the development time and deployment costs of new photonic products, as they bypass the design-fabrication cycle of a custom PIC. These chips, which actually consist of an entire technology stack of photonics, electronics packaging and software, can potentially be manufactured cheaper and in larger volumes than application-specific PICs. We look into the technology requirements of these generic programmable PICs and discuss the economy of scale. Finally, we make a qualitative analysis of the possible application spaces where generic programmable PICs can play an enabling role, especially to companies who do not have an in-depth background in PIC technology

REDUCING POWER DURING MANUFACTURING TEST USING DIFFERENT ARCHITECTURES

Power during manufacturing test can be several times higher than power consumption in functional mode. Excessive power during test can cause IR drop, over-heating, and early aging of the chips. In this dissertation, three different architectures have been introduced to reduce test power in general cases as well as in certain scenarios, including field test. In the first architecture, scan chains are divided into several segments. Every segment needs a control bit to enable capture in a segment when new faults are detectable on that segment for that pattern. Otherwise, the segment should be disabled to reduce capture power. We group the control bits together into one or more control chains. To address the extra pin(s) required to shift data into the control chain(s) and significant post processing in the first architecture, we explored a second architecture. The second architecture stitches the control bits into the chains they control as EECBs (embedded enable capture bits) in between the segments. This allows an ATPG software tool to automatically generate the appropriate EECB values for each pattern to maintain the fault coverage. This also works in the presence of an on-chip decompressor. The last architecture focuses primarily on the self-test of a device in a 3D stacked IC when an existing FPGA in the stack can be programmed as a tester. We show that the energy expended during test is significantly less than would be required using low power patterns fed by an on-chip decompressor for the same very short scan chains

Path Delay Test Through Memory Arrays

Memory arrays cannot be as easily tested as other storage elements in a chip. Most of the flip-flops (FFs) in a chip can be replaced by scan cells in scan-based design. However, the bits in memory arrays cannot be replaced by scan cells, due to the area cost and the timing-critical nature of many of the paths into and out of memories. Thus, bits in a memory array can be considered non-scan storage elements. Test methods such as memory built-in self-test (MBIST), functional test, and macro test are used to test memory arrays. However, these tests aren’t sufficient to test the paths through the memory arrays. During structural (scan) test generation, memory arrays are treated as “black boxes” or memory arrays are bypassed to a known value. Black boxes decrease coverage loss while bypassing increases chip area and delay. Path delay test through memory arrays is proposed using pseudo functional test (PFT) with K Longest Paths Per Gate (KLPG). In this technique, any longest path that is captured into a non-scan cell (including a memory cell) is propagated to a scan cell. The propagation of the captured value from non-scan cell to scan cell occurs during low-speed clock cycles. In this work, we assume that only one extra coda cycle is sufficient to propagate the captured value to a scan cell. This is true if the output of the memory feeds combinational logic that in turn feeds scan cells. When we want to launch a transition from a memory output, different values are written into different address locations and the address is toggled between the locations. The ATPG writes the different values into the memory cells during the preamble cycles. In the case of launching a transition out of a non-scan cell, the cell must be written with an initial value during the preamble cycles, and the next value set on the non-scan cell input. Thus, it is possible to capture and launch transitions into and from memory and non-scan cells and thus test the path delay of the longest paths into and out of memory and non-scan cells