DUDES: a fault abstraction and collapsing framework for asynchronous circuits

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of fault collapsing in asynchronous circuits. We investigate different transistor-level implementations of some basic elements that are used in delay-insensitive asynchronous circuit designs, and analyze them in the presence of single stuck-at-faults. From this analysis, we conclude that all internal stuck-at faults which are detectable by Boolean testing, can be represented as pin-faults. This abstraction makes it possible to perform fault simulation at the logic level (network of basic elements) rather than at transistor level, which reduces the simulation time. We show how this fault model, called DUDES, can be used for fault collapsing to reduce the size of fault lists at the logic level, thereby reducing the simulation time even further. We set the basis for a formal technique for deriving equivalence relationships among the faults under consideration, using trace expressions, and illustrate that this formal technique also supports fault collapsing at the system level. This framework can be expanded to a theory of fault abstraction and collapsing for asynchronous circuits that can reduce the complexity of rest pattern generation and fault simulation.