Pinhole Latent Defect Modeling and Simulation for Defect-Oriented Analog/Mixed-Signal Testing

Abstract

Test detection of lifetime failures due to latent defects is a necessity to reach the tightening quality requirements of automotive systems. This paper presents a pinhole latent defect model, together with a simulation workflow, that can be used to develop defect-oriented analog test approaches for pinhole latent defects. This work also defines the latent defect coverage and activation coverage, providing the means to compare different test methods under the same rules. Furthermore, a circuit taken from an industrial mixed-signal IC is used as case study. The results show that the typically applied specification tests are insufficient to detect latent defects. It is demonstrated that the coverage can be increased by adding well-selected tests in combination with voltage stress techniques. Doing so, the coverage for the case study is increased by 15x.