Predicting EMI Induced Delay Errors in Integrated Circuits: Sensitivity to the Velocity Saturation Index

Abstract

Integrated circuits (ICs) sometimes fail when their power supply is disrupted by external noise, such as might occur during an electrical fast transient (EFT). A delay model was proposed in [1] which can be used to predict the variations in the delays through logic circuits caused by electromagnetic induced noise in the power supply voltage. This model is relatively simple and requires few parameters, giving it the potential to be used even when the IC is a 'black bos' and little information is available about the inner circuits. While design information might be approximated through testing, critical process characteristics may not be available which are needed for accurate results. The parameter of greatest concern is the velocity saturation index, since this parameter can exponentially increase the impact of power supply noise on delay. This paper describes an investigation of the sensitivity of the delay model in [1] to the velocity saturation index. Results indicate that the estimated delay, found while treating much of the circuit as a black box, is largely insensitive to the velocity saturation index. This result suggests that this model can be used effectively for prediction of electromagnetically-induced delay errors, even when limited process or circuit information is known

Meeting Name

Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (2015: May 25-29, Taipei, Taiwan)

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Laboratory

Keywords and Phrases

Computer circuits; Electric power systems; Electromagnetic compatibility; Forecasting; Integrated circuits; Reconfigurable hardware; Velocity; Delay modeling; Design information; Electrical-fast-transients; Integrated circuits (ICs); Power supply voltage; Power-supply noise; Process characteristics; Velocity saturation; Delay circuits

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-147996670-7

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Aug 2015

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