DRAM specific approximation of the faulty behavior of cell defects

Abstract

To limit the exponential complexity required to analyze the dynamic faulty behavior of DRAMs, algorithms have been published to approximate the faulty behavior of DRAM cell defects. These algorithms, however, have limited practical application since they are based on generic memory operations (writes and reads) rather than the DRAM specific operations (activation, precharge, etc.). This paper extends the approximation algorithms by incorporating the DRAM specific operations, making them directly applicable in practice. In addition, based on the new extended method, the paper shows results of a fault analysis study of cell defects using electrical simulation.