Synthèse d'architectures de circuits FPGA tolérants aux défauts

The increasing integration density according to Moore’s law is being slowed due to economic and physical limits. However, this technological evolution involves an higher number of physical defects after manufacturing circuit. As yield goes down, one of the future challenges is to find a way to use a maximum of fabricated circuits while tolerating physical defects spread all over the chip. Fiel Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) are integrated circuits that contain logic blocks and reconfigurable interconnect. Their ability to integrate more complex applications, their flexibility and good performance make FPGAs the perfect target architecture. The aim of this thesis is to propose an FPGA architecture containing mechanisms to tolerate more than 20% of defective resources after manufacture. The first part of the manuscript studies the different FPGA architectures (mesh and tree) and different defects bypass techniques. In the second part of this thesis, we present the target architecture called Mesh of Clusters (MoC). This architecture combines the advantages of mesh architectures (genericity) and tree (reduction of the interconnect). The third contribution of this thesis is the development of a method to identify the most critical blocks in the FPGA and the impact of all bypass techniques on the architecture and on the criticality. Finally, we define the performance of all bypass techniques in terms of defect tolerance, timing and area overhead. Finally, thanks to these local redundancy techniques, we are able to tolerate more than 20% of defect on the FPGA architecture. In addition, the designer can fix his own metric in terms of area, timing and defect tolerance.L'essor considérable de la technologie CMOS a permis l'accroissement de la densité d'intégration selon la loi de Moore. Cependant, la poursuite de cette évolution est en voie de ralentissement dû aux contraintes physiques et économiques. Le défi devient alors de pouvoir utiliser un maximum de circuits tout en tolérant des défauts physiques présents en leur sein. Les circuits reconfigurables de type FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) connaissent un succès croissant car leurs performances et leurs capacités d'intégrer des applications très complexes ont directement bénéficié de l'évolution technologique. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer une architecture de FPGA contenant des mécanismes permettant de tolérer plus de 20% d'éléments défectueux après fabrication. La première partie du manuscrit étudie les différentes architectures de FPGA (matricielles et arborescentes) ainsi que les différentes techniques de contournement des défauts. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, nous présentons l'architecture cible matricielle (matrice de grappes ou groupes). Cette architecture combine les avantages des architectures matricielles (sa généricité) et arborescentes (réduction du taux d'utilisation de l'interconnexion. La troisième partie de cette thèse présente le développement d'une méthode d'identification des blocs les plus critiques contenus dans le FPGA ainsi que l'impact des différentes techniques de contournement retenues et proposées sur l'architecture et sur la criticité des blocs de base du FPGA. Pour finir, nous définissons les performances des différentes techniques de contournements en termes de tolérance aux défauts, de performances temporelles et de surface

A Defect-tolerant Cluster in a Mesh SRAM-based FPGA

International audienceIn this paper, we propose the implementation of multiple defect-tolerant techniques on an SRAM-based FPGA. These techniques include redundancy at both the logic block and intra-cluster interconnect. In the logic block, redundancy is implemented at the multiplexer level. Its efficiency is analyzed by injecting a single defect at the output of a multiplexer, considering all possible locations and input combinations. While at the interconnect level, fine grain redundancy is introduced which not only bypasses defects but also increases routability. Taking advantage of the sparse intra-cluster interconnect structures, routability is further improved by efficient distribution of feedback paths allowing more flexibility in the connections among logic blocks. Emulation results show a significant improvement of about 15% and 34% in the robustness of logic block and intra-cluster interconnect respectively. Furthermore, the impact of these hardening schemes on the testability of the FPGA cluster for manufacturing defects is also investigated in terms of maximum achievable fault coverage and the respective cost

Defect tolerant fpga architecture synthesis

L'essor considérable de la technologie CMOS a permis l'accroissement de la densité d'intégration selon la loi de Moore. Cependant, la poursuite de cette évolution est en voie de ralentissement dû aux contraintes physiques et économiques. Le défi devient alors de pouvoir utiliser un maximum de circuits tout en tolérant des défauts physiques présents en leur sein. Les circuits reconfigurables de type FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) connaissent un succès croissant car leurs performances et leurs capacités d'intégrer des applications très complexes ont directement bénéficié de l'évolution technologique. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer une architecture de FPGA contenant des mécanismes permettant de tolérer plus de 20% d'éléments défectueux après fabrication. La première partie du manuscrit étudie les différentes architectures de FPGA (matricielles et arborescentes) ainsi que les différentes techniques de contournement des défauts. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, nous présentons l'architecture cible matricielle (matrice de grappes ou groupes). Cette architecture combine les avantages des architectures matricielles (sa généricité) et arborescentes (réduction du taux d'utilisation de l'interconnexion. La troisième partie de cette thèse présente le développement d'une méthode d'identification des blocs les plus critiques contenus dans le FPGA ainsi que l'impact des différentes techniques de contournement retenues et proposées sur l'architecture et sur la criticité des blocs de base du FPGA. Pour finir, nous définissons les performances des différentes techniques de contournements en termes de tolérance aux défauts, de performances temporelles et de surface.The increasing integration density according to Moore’s law is being slowed due to economic and physical limits. However, this technological evolution involves an higher number of physical defects after manufacturing circuit. As yield goes down, one of the future challenges is to find a way to use a maximum of fabricated circuits while tolerating physical defects spread all over the chip. Fiel Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) are integrated circuits that contain logic blocks and reconfigurable interconnect. Their ability to integrate more complex applications, their flexibility and good performance make FPGAs the perfect target architecture. The aim of this thesis is to propose an FPGA architecture containing mechanisms to tolerate more than 20% of defective resources after manufacture. The first part of the manuscript studies the different FPGA architectures (mesh and tree) and different defects bypass techniques. In the second part of this thesis, we present the target architecture called Mesh of Clusters (MoC). This architecture combines the advantages of mesh architectures (genericity) and tree (reduction of the interconnect). The third contribution of this thesis is the development of a method to identify the most critical blocks in the FPGA and the impact of all bypass techniques on the architecture and on the criticality. Finally, we define the performance of all bypass techniques in terms of defect tolerance, timing and area overhead. Finally, thanks to these local redundancy techniques, we are able to tolerate more than 20% of defect on the FPGA architecture. In addition, the designer can fix his own metric in terms of area, timing and defect tolerance

Impact of Cluster Size on Routability, Testability and Robustness of a Cluster in a Mesh FPGA

International audienceNowadays, modern FPGA architectures are mainlyorganized in clusters of configurable logic resources connected togetherby depopulated interconnect. However, cluster architectureorganization and size versus inter and intra-cluster interconnectarchitectures is an ongoing optimization process, as it severelyimpacts the routability, area saving, testability and the overallrobustness of a given FPGA. This paper addresses a thoroughanalysis of the cluster size impact on area and routability ofthe cluster as well as on its testability and inherent robustness. Benchmark circuits are synthesized in a range of cluster sizes(number of logic blocks per cluster) 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 to identifythe optimum one in terms of area and routability. Then, theoverall cluster testability and its respective cost is examinedusing BIST algorithm developed for this purpose. To completethe analysis, cluster size impact on the robustness of the clusterlogic and the intra-cluster interconnect is assessed by logicalmasking ability. Results show that the cluster of size 12 offers abetter routability at relatively less test cost along with a better robustness