{"title":"Photomasks and the enablement of circuit design complexity","authors":"P. Buck, F. Kalk, C. West","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450555","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450555","url":null,"abstract":"Photomasks have evolved from simple replicators of design layout for lithography to become complex translators of design intent for sub-wavelength imaging systems while at the same time maintaining a cost efficiency that exceeds Moore's Law predictions for scalability in the semiconductor industry. The cost performance of photomasks is reviewed in context to design costs. The life cycle of a photomask product node is examined with respect to capital investment costs. Predictions for future photomask cost challenges are considered.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117174401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ming-Ta Yang, Yang Du, C. Teng, Tony Chang, E. Worley, K. Liao, Y. Yau, G. Yeap
{"title":"BSIM4-based lateral diode model for LNA co-designed with ESD protection circuit","authors":"Ming-Ta Yang, Yang Du, C. Teng, Tony Chang, E. Worley, K. Liao, Y. Yau, G. Yeap","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450396","url":null,"abstract":"POLY gate defined lateral ESD diodes were fabricated, characterized and modeled using Foundry standard 65nm CMOS technology. Compare to conventional STI diode, the lateral diode demonstrated superior Q-factor and TLP IT2 due to the reduced transport distance and RC constant. Aided by BSIM4 MOS transistor model, a physically based scalable lateral diode model was developed and presented here for the first time. The accuracy of the diode model was validated with RF characterization data over a broad device geometrical range. The model was successfully used in LNA and ESD CDM protection co-design. A good match of LNA RF performance between Si-data and model prediction was achieved. Experimental results showed that LNA with Lateral Diode protection passed +/−500V ESD CDM zap voltage, while LNA with STI diode started to fail at only −250V.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130566682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Long Fei, L. Mize, Cho Moon, Bill Mullen, Sonia Singhal
{"title":"Constraint analysis and debugging for multi-million instance SoC designs","authors":"Long Fei, L. Mize, Cho Moon, Bill Mullen, Sonia Singhal","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450540","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450540","url":null,"abstract":"Timing constraints are used by implementation tools in all design stages in modern design flows. With the growing complexity of designs and constraints, it is increasingly challenging to identify, diagnose, and fix constraint problems. In this paper, we present the technology of an interactive constraint debugger that automatically checks constraint problems, and provides context-sensitive diagnosis and fix suggestions. Our extensive user feedback shows that the tool significantly improves designer productivity.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134109832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Formal verification of Full-Wave Rectifier using SPICE circuit simulation traces","authors":"K. Lata, H. S. Jamadagni","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450556","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450556","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we present a case study of formal verification of analog and mixed signal designs using SPICE circuit simulation traces. We consider verifying safety properties of Full Wave Rectifier (FWR) using SPICE circuit simulation traces. We follow the formal verification approach of [1] where authors have used the SPICE circuit simulation traces for doing the formal analysis of the Analog and Mixed Signal circuits. We have used the Checkmate tool from CMU [2], which is a public domain formal verification tool for hybrid systems. Checkmate is built on the top of the Simulink/Stateflow Framework (SSF) from MATLAB from Math Works. Due to restriction imposed by Checkmate it necessitates to make the changes in the Checkmate implementation to implement the complex and non-linear systems. FWR has been implemented by using Checkmate custom blocks and Simulink blocks from MATLAB. The FWR model has been implemented in LTSPICE. The formal verification has been done for both the implementation i.e. Simulink implementation as well as LTSPICE implementation. We are able to efficiently verify the safety properties of the full wave rectifier using simulation traces from Simulink model and LTSPICE simulation.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130275821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shiho Hagiwara, K. Yamanaga, Ryo Takahashi, K. Masu, Takashi Sato
{"title":"Linear time calculation of state-dependent power distribution network capacitance","authors":"Shiho Hagiwara, K. Yamanaga, Ryo Takahashi, K. Masu, Takashi Sato","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450399","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450399","url":null,"abstract":"A fast calculation tool for state-dependent capacitance of power distribution network is proposed. The proposed method achieves linear time-complexity, which can be more than four orders magnitude faster than a conventional SPICE-based capacitance calculation. Large circuits that have been unanalyzable with the conventional method become analyzable for more comprehensive exploration of capacitance variation. The capacitance obtained with the proposed method agrees SPICE-based method completely (up to 5 digits), and time-linearity is confirmed through numerical experiments on various circuits. The proposed tool facilitates to study capacitance variation, which is necessary to build an accurate macro model of an LSI.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133177984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Clock routing for structured ASICs with via-configurable fabrics","authors":"Rung-Bin Lin, I.-W. Lee, Wen-Hao Chen","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450489","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we propose a clock routing algorithm for structured ASICs using predefined yet via-configurable metal wires. Our algorithm has many distinct features implemented to address the specific problems encountered by the tasks of creating tapping points and performing wire snaking. We also present an approach to merging two subtrees without exacerbating the skew of a merged tree. Experimental data show that a delay-balanced clock tree can be constructed using via-configurable routing fabric, with an average skew of 8.1% of clock latency for some benchmark circuits. Such a result is comparable to what can be achieved by a commercial clock tree synthesizer.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130770268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multiplexed trace signal selection using non-trivial implication-based correlation","authors":"S. Prabhakar, M. Hsiao","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450503","url":null,"abstract":"Silicon debug with a trace buffer provides real-time visibility to the design under debug. It traces a small subset of internal signals during its normal operation. The effectiveness of silicon debug, then, depends critically on the selection of trace signals. This paper proposes a new multiplexer-based trace signal interconnection scheme and a new heuristic for trace signal selection based on implication-based correlation. As a result, we can effectively trace twice as many signals with the same trace buffer width. We also propose a SAT-based heuristic to prune the selected trace signal list further to take into account those multi-node implications. Finally, we propose a state restoration algorithm for the multiplexer-based trace signal interconnection scheme. Experiments for sequential benchmark circuits showed that the proposed approach selects the trace signals effectively, giving superior restoration percentage compared with other techniques.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122079707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Yield-constrained digital circuit sizing via sequential geometric programming","authors":"Y. Ben, L. Ghaoui, K. Poolla, C. Spanos","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450391","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450391","url":null,"abstract":"Circuit design under process variation can be formulated mathematically as a robust optimization problem with a yield constraint. Existing methods force designers to either resort to overly simplified circuit performance model, or rely on simplistic variability assumptions. On the other hand, accurate yield estimation must incorporate a sophisticated variability model that recognizes both systematic and random components at various levels of hierarchy. Unfortunately, such models are not compatible with existing optimization solutions. To solve the problem, we propose the sequential geometric programming method, which consists of iterative usage of geometric programming and importance sampling, and is capable of handling an arbitrary variability model. The proposed method is shown to be able to achieve the desired yield without overdesign, and solve circuits with thousands of gates within reasonable amount of time.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116797808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Slack-based approach for peak power reduction during transition fault testing","authors":"M. Baby, V. Sarathi","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450516","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450516","url":null,"abstract":"Peak power consumption during test for the low power devices is a major concern [2, 3, 4]. Excessive peak power may result in test failures of functionally good devices. Huge peaks in the instantaneous power consumption will result in high rates of change of current (di/dt) causing adverse noise effects like VDD-drop and ground-bounce [1, 2, 3, 4]. Also, a high frequency of occurrence of high di/dt may cause severe decrease in the reliability of the circuit [1]. Hence the process of testing low power devices must be peak power aware. This paper provides a method to minimize the peak power during speed capture phase by partitioning the nodes into two zones based on their timing slacks. One of the zones contains the timing-critical nodes, while the other contains the non timing-critical ones. Each zone may be split into multiple bins. Test patterns are generated independently for each bin, targeting the nodes belonging to that bin alone, thus reducing the size of the target set. It is very important that the peak power consumed by the test patterns for each bin in the timing-critical zone is well within the tolerable limit. The bins in the non timing-critical zone may be allowed to have peak power consumptions very close to the limit or even marginally higher because the large positive slacks on these nodes will make up for the extra delay through the cells caused by VDD-drop/ground-bounce. This approach allows the designer to have a better control over each pattern and also helps to minimize the effects of high peak power and high di/dt.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"177 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124387795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparative analysis and study of metastability on high-performance flip-flops","authors":"David Li, P. Chuang, M. Sachdev","doi":"10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450482","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450482","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we analyze and characterize the metastability of 11 previously proposed high-performance flip-flops, reduced clock-swing flip-flops, and level-converting flip-flops. From extensive simulation results in 65nm CMOS technology, the main metastability parameters of τ and T0 are extracted and analyzed at both nominal and reduced supply voltage. Our simulation results indicate that these flip-flops exhibit a wide range (up to few orders of magnitudes) of metastability windows. In particular, flip-flops with differential and positive feedback configuration such as the sense-amplifier based flip-flops demonstrate the most optimal metastability. Based on this finding, a novel pre-discharge flip-flop (PDFF) with positive feedback configuration is proposed. Extensive simulation results reveal that PDFF achieves better metastability than the previous proposed flip-flops at both nominal voltage supply and nominal voltage supply with reduced clock-swing.","PeriodicalId":369046,"journal":{"name":"2010 11th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127539241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}