Reliable design methodology: The combined effect of radiation, variability and temperature

Abstract

The effects caused by variability, temperature, radiation or aging may compromise the reliability of electronic circuits. Circuits designers must consider their combined effects early during the design cycle, even though it is a time and effort demanding task. In this work we present a methodology and simulation framework for the reliable design of circuits working under realistic conditions such as a wide range of temperatures, radiation and process variations. This proposal provides an alternative method for validating digital and analog circuits. Depending on the analyzed circuit functionality, the user is able to define complex reliability metrics such as signal upsets, delays or frequency deviations to measure the circuit response in affordable simulation time.