Single-Event Upset Analysis and Protection in High Speed Circuits

The effect of single-event transients (SETs) (at a combinational node of a design) on the system reliability is becoming a big concern for ICs manufactured using advanced technologies. An SET at a node of combinational part may cause a transient pulse at the input of a flip-flop and consequently is latched in the flip-flop and generates a soft-error. When an SET conjoined with a transition at a node along a critical path of the combinational part of a design, a transient delay fault may occur at the input of a flip-flop. On the other hand, increasing pipeline depth and using low power techniques such as multi-level power supply, and multi-threshold transistor convert almost all paths in a circuit to critical ones. Thus, studying the behavior of the SET in these kinds of circuits needs special attention. This paper studies the dynamic behavior of a circuit with massive critical paths in the presence of an SET. We also propose a novel flip-flop architecture to mitigate the effects of such SETs in combinational circuits. Furthermore, the proposed architecture can tolerant a single event upset (SEU) caused by particle strike on the internal nodes of a flip-flo

Novel Front-end Electronics for Time Projection Chamber Detectors

Este trabajo ha sido realizado en la Organización Europea para la Investigación Nuclear (CERN) y forma parte del proyecto de investigación Europeo para futuros aceleradores lineales (EUDET). En física de partículas existen diferentes categorías de detectores de partículas. El diseño presentado esta centrado en un tipo particular de detector de trayectoria de partículas denominado TPC (Time Projection Chamber) que proporciona una imagen en tres dimensiones de las partículas eléctricamente cargadas que atraviesan su volumen gaseoso. La tesis incluye un estudio de los objetivos para futuros detectores, resumiendo los parámetros que un sistema de adquisición de datos debe cumplir en esos casos. Además, estos requisitos son comparados con los actuales sistemas de lectura utilizados en diferentes detectores TPC. Se concluye que ninguno de los sistemas cumple las restrictivas condiciones. Algunos de los principales objetivos para futuros detectores TPC son un altísimo nivel de integración, incremento del número de canales, electrónica más rápida y muy baja potencia. El principal inconveniente del estado del arte de los sistemas anteriores es la utilización de varios circuitos integrados en la cadena de adquisición. Este hecho hace imposible alcanzar el altísimo nivel de integración requerido para futuros detectores. Además, un aumento del número de canales y frecuencia de muestreo haría incrementar hasta valores no permitidos la potencia utilizada. Y en consecuencia, incrementar la refrigeración necesaria (en caso de ser posible). Una de las novedades presentadas es la integración de toda la cadena de adquisición (filtros analógicos de entrada, conversor analógico-digital (ADC) y procesado de señal digital) en un único circuito integrado en tecnología de 130nm. Este chip es el primero que realiza esta altísima integración para detectores TPC. Por otro lado, se presenta un análisis detallado de los filtros de procesado de señal. Los objetivos más importantes es la reduccióGarcía García, EJ. (2012). Novel Front-end Electronics for Time Projection Chamber Detectors [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/16980Palanci

Test Strategies for Low Power Devices

Ultra low-power devices are being developed for embedded applications in bio-medical electronics, wireless sensor networks, environment monitoring and protection, etc. The testing of these low-cost, low-power devices is a daunting task. Depending on the target application, there are stringent guidelines on the number of defective parts per million shipped devices. At the same time, since such devices are cost-sensitive, test cost is a major consideration. Since system-level power-management techniques are employed in these devices, test generation must be power-management-aware to avoid stressing the power distribution infrastructure in the test mode. Structural test techniques such as scan test, with or without compression, can result in excessive heat dissipation during testing and damage the package. False failures may result due to the electrical and thermal stressing of the device in the test mode of operation, leading to yield loss. This paper considers different aspects of testing low-power devices and some new techniques to address these problems.Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE \u2708), 10-14 March 2008, Munich, German

Survey of Soft Error Mitigation Techniques Applied to LEON3 Soft Processors on SRAM-Based FPGAs

Soft-core processors implemented in SRAM-based FPGAs are an attractive option for applications to be employed in radiation environments due to their flexibility, relatively-low application development costs, and reconfigurability features enabling them to adapt to the evolving mission needs. Despite the advantages soft-core processors possess, they are seldom used in critical applications because they are more sensitive to radiation than their hard-core counterparts. For instance, both the logic and signal routing circuitry of a soft-core processor as well as its user memory are susceptible to radiation-induced faults. Therefore, soft-core processors must be appropriately hardened against ionizing-radiation to become a feasible design choice for harsh environments and thus to reap all their benefits. This survey henceforth discusses various techniques to protect the configuration and user memories of an LEON3 soft processor, which is one of the most widely used soft-core processors in radiation environments, as reported in the state-of-the-art literature, with the objective of facilitating the choice of right fault-mitigation solution for any given soft-core processor

Advanced characterisation techniques for battery safety assessment

The need to shift to cleaner energy sources is imperative. Battery technology is considered a highly promising technology to successfully bring about this shift. It has already been implemented in numerous ways and features in our day-to-day lives; from mobile phones to homes. Recently, concerns regarding their safety have increased and as a result, governments have boosted research efforts in this area, with the added urge to work collectively with industry partners and regulatory bodies. These cells are prone to undergo catastrophic failures as a result of a series of exothermic reactions (thermal runaway) that can be triggered by several methods. Many research efforts have been made to understand this phenomenon from various perspectives: material selection, mechanical design, mitigation or preventative measures. This thesis shows how we can begin to comprehend this complexity and apply it to advancing existing battery safety assessment techniques. Through thermal analyses and multi-scale X-ray CT imaging, the correlations between heat generation and battery architecture are addressed. In this work, for the first time, differential scanning calorimetry was used to measure heat signals from full cells, high aspect ratio battery samples were imaged and a custom-built calorimeter chamber was developed to provide operando images and heat measurements of cells undergoing thermal failure. The results obtained from the methodologies and techniques established in this work have advanced our understanding of how various battery material morphologies and architectures behave under certain stresses. In turn, these findings can aid not only in the development and manufacture of safer lithium-ion batteries but also in the standardisation of testing standards, and improvement of failure mitigation strategies

Error Detection and Diagnosis for System-on-Chip in Space Applications

Tesis por compendio de publicacionesLos componentes electrónicos comerciales, comúnmente llamados componentes Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) están presentes en multitud de dispositivos habituales en nuestro día a día. Particularmente, el uso de microprocesadores y sistemas en chip (SoC) altamente integrados ha favorecido la aparición de dispositivos electrónicos cada vez más inteligentes que sostienen el estilo de vida y el avance de la sociedad moderna. Su uso se ha generalizado incluso en aquellos sistemas que se consideran críticos para la seguridad, como vehículos, aviones, armamento, dispositivos médicos, implantes o centrales eléctricas. En cualquiera de ellos, un fallo podría tener graves consecuencias humanas o económicas. Sin embargo, todos los sistemas electrónicos conviven constantemente con factores internos y externos que pueden provocar fallos en su funcionamiento. La capacidad de un sistema para funcionar correctamente en presencia de fallos se denomina tolerancia a fallos, y es un requisito en el diseño y operación de sistemas críticos. Los vehículos espaciales como satélites o naves espaciales también hacen uso de microprocesadores para operar de forma autónoma o semi autónoma durante su vida útil, con la dificultad añadida de que no pueden ser reparados en órbita, por lo que se consideran sistemas críticos. Además, las duras condiciones existentes en el espacio, y en particular los efectos de la radiación, suponen un gran desafío para el correcto funcionamiento de los dispositivos electrónicos. Concretamente, los fallos transitorios provocados por radiación (conocidos como soft errors) tienen el potencial de ser una de las mayores amenazas para la fiabilidad de un sistema en el espacio. Las misiones espaciales de gran envergadura, típicamente financiadas públicamente como en el caso de la NASA o la Agencia Espacial Europea (ESA), han tenido históricamente como requisito evitar el riesgo a toda costa por encima de cualquier restricción de coste o plazo. Por ello, la selección de componentes resistentes a la radiación (rad-hard) específicamente diseñados para su uso en el espacio ha sido la metodología imperante en el paradigma que hoy podemos denominar industria espacial tradicional, u Old Space. Sin embargo, los componentes rad-hard tienen habitualmente un coste mucho más alto y unas prestaciones mucho menores que otros componentes COTS equivalentes. De hecho, los componentes COTS ya han sido utilizados satisfactoriamente en misiones de la NASA o la ESA cuando las prestaciones requeridas por la misión no podían ser cubiertas por ningún componente rad-hard existente. En los últimos años, el acceso al espacio se está facilitando debido en gran parte a la entrada de empresas privadas en la industria espacial. Estas empresas no siempre buscan evitar el riesgo a toda costa, sino que deben perseguir una rentabilidad económica, por lo que hacen un balance entre riesgo, coste y plazo mediante gestión del riesgo en un paradigma denominado Nuevo Espacio o New Space. Estas empresas a menudo están interesadas en entregar servicios basados en el espacio con las máximas prestaciones y el mayor beneficio posibles, para lo cual los componentes rad-hard son menos atractivos debido a su mayor coste y menores prestaciones que los componentes COTS existentes. Sin embargo, los componentes COTS no han sido específicamente diseñados para su uso en el espacio y típicamente no incluyen técnicas específicas para evitar que los efectos de la radiación afecten su funcionamiento. Los componentes COTS se comercializan tal cual son, y habitualmente no es posible modificarlos para mejorar su resistencia a la radiación. Además, los elevados niveles de integración de los sistemas en chip (SoC) complejos de altas prestaciones dificultan su observación y la aplicación de técnicas de tolerancia a fallos. Este problema es especialmente relevante en el caso de los microprocesadores. Por tanto, existe un gran interés en el desarrollo de técnicas que permitan conocer y mejorar el comportamiento de los microprocesadores COTS bajo radiación sin modificar su arquitectura y sin interferir en su funcionamiento para facilitar su uso en el espacio y con ello maximizar las prestaciones de las misiones espaciales presentes y futuras. En esta Tesis se han desarrollado técnicas novedosas para detectar, diagnosticar y mitigar los errores producidos por radiación en microprocesadores y sistemas en chip (SoC) comerciales, utilizando la interfaz de traza como punto de observación. La interfaz de traza es un recurso habitual en los microprocesadores modernos, principalmente enfocado a soportar las tareas de desarrollo y depuración del software durante la fase de diseño. Sin embargo, una vez el desarrollo ha concluido, la interfaz de traza típicamente no se utiliza durante la fase operativa del sistema, por lo que puede ser reutilizada sin coste. La interfaz de traza constituye un punto de conexión viable para observar el comportamiento de un microprocesador de forma no intrusiva y sin interferir en su funcionamiento. Como resultado de esta Tesis se ha desarrollado un módulo IP capaz de recabar y decodificar la información de traza de un microprocesador COTS moderno de altas prestaciones. El IP es altamente configurable y personalizable para adaptarse a diferentes aplicaciones y tipos de procesadores. Ha sido diseñado y validado utilizando el dispositivo Zynq-7000 de Xilinx como plataforma de desarrollo, que constituye un dispositivo COTS de interés en la industria espacial. Este dispositivo incluye un procesador ARM Cortex-A9 de doble núcleo, que es representativo del conjunto de microprocesadores hard-core modernos de altas prestaciones. El IP resultante es compatible con la tecnología ARM CoreSight, que proporciona acceso a información de traza en los microprocesadores ARM. El IP incorpora técnicas para detectar errores en el flujo de ejecución y en los datos de la aplicación ejecutada utilizando la información de traza, en tiempo real y con muy baja latencia. El IP se ha validado en campañas de inyección de fallos y también en radiación con protones y neutrones en instalaciones especializadas. También se ha combinado con otras técnicas de tolerancia a fallos para construir técnicas híbridas de mitigación de errores. Los resultados experimentales obtenidos demuestran su alta capacidad de detección y potencialidad en el diagnóstico de errores producidos por radiación. El resultado de esta Tesis, desarrollada en el marco de un Doctorado Industrial entre la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) y la empresa Arquimea, se ha transferido satisfactoriamente al entorno empresarial en forma de un proyecto financiado por la Agencia Espacial Europea para continuar su desarrollo y posterior explotación.Commercial electronic components, also known as Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), are present in a wide variety of devices commonly used in our daily life. Particularly, the use of microprocessors and highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) devices has fostered the advent of increasingly intelligent electronic devices which sustain the lifestyles and the progress of modern society. Microprocessors are present even in safety-critical systems, such as vehicles, planes, weapons, medical devices, implants, or power plants. In any of these cases, a fault could involve severe human or economic consequences. However, every electronic system deals continuously with internal and external factors that could provoke faults in its operation. The capacity of a system to operate correctly in presence of faults is known as fault-tolerance, and it becomes a requirement in the design and operation of critical systems. Space vehicles such as satellites or spacecraft also incorporate microprocessors to operate autonomously or semi-autonomously during their service life, with the additional difficulty that they cannot be repaired once in-orbit, so they are considered critical systems. In addition, the harsh conditions in space, and specifically radiation effects, involve a big challenge for the correct operation of electronic devices. In particular, radiation-induced soft errors have the potential to become one of the major risks for the reliability of systems in space. Large space missions, typically publicly funded as in the case of NASA or European Space Agency (ESA), have followed historically the requirement to avoid the risk at any expense, regardless of any cost or schedule restriction. Because of that, the selection of radiation-resistant components (known as rad-hard) specifically designed to be used in space has been the dominant methodology in the paradigm of traditional space industry, also known as “Old Space”. However, rad-hard components have commonly a much higher associated cost and much lower performance that other equivalent COTS devices. In fact, COTS components have already been used successfully by NASA and ESA in missions that requested such high performance that could not be satisfied by any available rad-hard component. In the recent years, the access to space is being facilitated in part due to the irruption of private companies in the space industry. Such companies do not always seek to avoid the risk at any cost, but they must pursue profitability, so they perform a trade-off between risk, cost, and schedule through risk management in a paradigm known as “New Space”. Private companies are often interested in deliver space-based services with the maximum performance and maximum benefit as possible. With such objective, rad-hard components are less attractive than COTS due to their higher cost and lower performance. However, COTS components have not been specifically designed to be used in space and typically they do not include specific techniques to avoid or mitigate the radiation effects in their operation. COTS components are commercialized “as is”, so it is not possible to modify them to improve their susceptibility to radiation effects. Moreover, the high levels of integration of complex, high-performance SoC devices hinder their observability and the application of fault-tolerance techniques. This problem is especially relevant in the case of microprocessors. Thus, there is a growing interest in the development of techniques allowing to understand and improve the behavior of COTS microprocessors under radiation without modifying their architecture and without interfering with their operation. Such techniques may facilitate the use of COTS components in space and maximize the performance of present and future space missions. In this Thesis, novel techniques have been developed to detect, diagnose, and mitigate radiation-induced errors in COTS microprocessors and SoCs using the trace interface as an observation point. The trace interface is a resource commonly found in modern microprocessors, mainly intended to support software development and debugging activities during the design phase. However, it is commonly left unused during the operational phase of the system, so it can be reused with no cost. The trace interface constitutes a feasible connection point to observe microprocessor behavior in a non-intrusive manner and without disturbing processor operation. As a result of this Thesis, an IP module has been developed capable to gather and decode the trace information of a modern, high-end, COTS microprocessor. The IP is highly configurable and customizable to support different applications and processor types. The IP has been designed and validated using the Xilinx Zynq-7000 device as a development platform, which is an interesting COTS device for the space industry. This device features a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, which is a good representative of modern, high-end, hard-core microprocessors. The resulting IP is compatible with the ARM CoreSight technology, which enables access to trace information in ARM microprocessors. The IP is able to detect errors in the execution flow of the microprocessor and in the application data using trace information, in real time and with very low latency. The IP has been validated in fault injection campaigns and also under proton and neutron irradiation campaigns in specialized facilities. It has also been combined with other fault-tolerance techniques to build hybrid error mitigation approaches. Experimental results demonstrate its high detection capabilities and high potential for the diagnosis of radiation-induced errors. The result of this Thesis, developed in the framework of an Industrial Ph.D. between the University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) and the company Arquimea, has been successfully transferred to the company business as a project sponsored by European Space Agency to continue its development and subsequent commercialization.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y Automática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidenta: María Luisa López Vallejo.- Secretario: Enrique San Millán Heredia.- Vocal: Luigi Di Lill

Low-Molecular Weight Molecules as Selective Contacts for Perovskite Solar Cells

La tecnologia fotovoltaica és una de les fonts d'energia neta i renovable més prometedores per reduir l'impacte ambiental dels combustibles fòssils en les últimes dècades. en aquest context, les perovskites són un material que ha atret recentment una atenció important a causa de la seva capacitat per aconseguir eficiències de conversió molt elevades. Les capes de càrrega selectiva juguen un paper crucial en el ràpid augment del rendiment del dispositiu i en l'estabilitat de les cel·les solars de perovskita. Recentment, l'aplicació de mono-capes auto-assemblades formades per molècules orgàniques que funcionen com a capes selectives de càrrega en cel·les solars de perovskita ha atret una gran atenció a causa d'avantatges com la rendibilitat, l'estabilitat i l'absència d'additius. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és el disseny i la síntesi de noves molècules que formen mono-capes auto-assemblades que funcionin com a capes selectives de forats en cel·les solars de perovskita per aconseguir una eficiència de conversió d'alta d'energia i una vida d'envelliment d'alt rendiment feta a mida.La tecnología fotovoltaica es una de las fuentes de energía limpia y renovable más prometedoras para reducir el impacto ambiental de los combustibles fósiles en las últimas décadas. en este contexto, las *perovskites son un material que ha atraído recientemente una atención importante a causa de su capacidad para conseguir eficiencias de conversión muy elevadas. Las capas de carga selectiva juegan un papel crucial en el rápido aumento del rendimiento del dispositivo y en la estabilidad de las celdas solares de *perovskita. Recientemente, la aplicación de *mono-capes auto-asemejadas formadas por moléculas orgánicas que funcionan como capas selectivas de carga en celdas solares de *perovskita ha atraído una gran atención a causa de ventajas como la rentabilidad, la estabilidad y la ausencia de aditivos. El objetivo de esta tesis es el diseño y la síntesis de nuevas moléculas que forman *mono-capes auto-asemejadas que funcionen como capas selectivas de agujeros en celdas solares de *perovskita para conseguir una eficiencia de conversión de alta de energía y una vida de envejecimiento de alto rendimiento hecha a medida.Photovoltaic technology is one of the most promising clean and renewable energy sources to reduce the environmental impact of fossil fuels in recent decades. In this context, perovskites are a material that has recently attracted significant attention due to their ability to achieve very high conversion efficiencys. Selective charge layers play a crucial role in rapidly increasing device performance and in the stability of perovskite solar cells. Recently, the application of self-assembly mono-caps made up of organic molecules that function as selective layers of charge in solar perovskite cells has attracted great attention due to advantages such as profitability, stability and the absence of additives. The goal of this thesis is the design and synthesis of new molecules that form self-assembly mono-layers that function as selective layers of holes in solar perovskite cells to achieve high-energy conversion efficiency and a high-performance aging life tailored to size

Automated Debugging Methodology for FPGA-based Systems

Electronic devices make up a vital part of our lives. These are seen from mobiles, laptops, computers, home automation, etc. to name a few. The modern designs constitute billions of transistors. However, with this evolution, ensuring that the devices fulfill the designer’s expectation under variable conditions has also become a great challenge. This requires a lot of design time and effort. Whenever an error is encountered, the process is re-started. Hence, it is desired to minimize the number of spins required to achieve an error-free product, as each spin results in loss of time and effort. Software-based simulation systems present the main technique to ensure the verification of the design before fabrication. However, few design errors (bugs) are likely to escape the simulation process. Such bugs subsequently appear during the post-silicon phase. Finding such bugs is time-consuming due to inherent invisibility of the hardware. Instead of software simulation of the design in the pre-silicon phase, post-silicon techniques permit the designers to verify the functionality through the physical implementations of the design. The main benefit of the methodology is that the implemented design in the post-silicon phase runs many order-of-magnitude faster than its counterpart in pre-silicon. This allows the designers to validate their design more exhaustively. This thesis presents five main contributions to enable a fast and automated debugging solution for reconfigurable hardware. During the research work, we used an obstacle avoidance system for robotic vehicles as a use case to illustrate how to apply the proposed debugging solution in practical environments. The first contribution presents a debugging system capable of providing a lossless trace of debugging data which permits a cycle-accurate replay. This methodology ensures capturing permanent as well as intermittent errors in the implemented design. The contribution also describes a solution to enhance hardware observability. It is proposed to utilize processor-configurable concentration networks, employ debug data compression to transmit the data more efficiently, and partially reconfiguring the debugging system at run-time to save the time required for design re-compilation as well as preserve the timing closure. The second contribution presents a solution for communication-centric designs. Furthermore, solutions for designs with multi-clock domains are also discussed. The third contribution presents a priority-based signal selection methodology to identify the signals which can be more helpful during the debugging process. A connectivity generation tool is also presented which can map the identified signals to the debugging system. The fourth contribution presents an automated error detection solution which can help in capturing the permanent as well as intermittent errors without continuous monitoring of debugging data. The proposed solution works for designs even in the absence of golden reference. The fifth contribution proposes to use artificial intelligence for post-silicon debugging. We presented a novel idea of using a recurrent neural network for debugging when a golden reference is present for training the network. Furthermore, the idea was also extended to designs where golden reference is not present

3D Printing StarPoreⓇ for Bone Tissue Engineering

Since the advent of Tissue Engineering (TE) in the late 1980’s, significant progress has been made within the biomedical landscape. A recently established branch within TE is biofabrication, a field that aims to automate the fabrication of biologically functional materials through the use of additive manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) printing, among other techniques. Additive manufacturing offers fine control over part porosity, with the capacity to match the complex internal architecture of human bone. Coupled with clinical 3D scanning techniques, 3D printing has the capacity to generate implants that accurately match defected areas. However, due to the limited number of regulatory approved devices for human implantation and high cost of sophisticated powder bed fusion printers, the printing techniques are restricted. To be compatible with regulatory requirements, this work aims to utilise a widely accessible and regulatory approved device, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to generate bone substitutes. HDPE in the form of StarPore® supplied by industry collaborator Anatomics Pty Ltd, a three-pronged star or trilobal shape, is an established material approved by both the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States of America and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia as a bone substitute for human implantation