Memory-based Programmable Logic Device (MPLD) is a new type of reconfigurable device constructed using a general SRAM array in a unique interconnect configuration. This research aims to propose approaches to guarantee the long-term reliability of MPLDs, including a test method to identify interconnect defects in the SRAM array during the production phase and a delay monitoring technique to detect aging-caused failures. The proposed test method configures pre-generated test configuration data into SRAMs to create fault propagation paths, applies an external walking-zero/one vector to excite faults, and identifies faults at the external output ports. The proposed delay monitoring method configures a novel ring oscillator logic design into MPLD to measure delay variations when the device is in practical use. The logic simulation results with fault injection confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Shorts and opens are two major kind of defects that are most likely to occur in Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits. In modern Integrated Circuit devices these defects must be considered not only at gate-level but also at transistor level. In this paper, we propose a method for generating test vectors that targets both transistor shorts (tr-shorts) and transistor opens (tr-opens). Since two consecutive test vectors need to be applied in order to detect tr-opens, we assume launch on capture (LOC) test application mechanism. This makes it possible to detect delay type defects. Further, the proposed method employs existing stuck-at test generation tools thus requiring no change in the design and development flow and development of no new tools is needed. Experimental results for benchmark circuits demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by providing 100% fault efficiency while the test set size is still moderate.

This paper presents a method of multiple fault diagnosis in sequential circuits by input-sequence pairs having sensitizing input pairs. We, first, introduce an input-sequence pair having sensitizing input pairs to diagnose multiple faults in a sequential circuit represented by a combinational array model. We call such input-sequence pair the sensitizing sequence pair in this paper. Next, we describe a diagnostic method for multiple faults in sequential circuits by the sensitizing sequence pair. From a relation between a sensitizing path generated by a sensitizing sequence pair and a subcircuit, the proposed method deduces the suspected faults for the subcircuits, one by one, based on the responses observed at primary outputs without probing any internal line. Experimental results show that our diagnostic method identifies fault locations within small numbers of suspected faults.

In this paper, we consider the design for testability of a multiplier based on the modified Booth Algorithm. First, we present a basic array implementation of the multiplier. Next, we introduce testability considerations to derive two C-testable designs. The first of the designs is C-testable under the single stuck-at fault model (SAF) with 10 test patterns. And, the second is C-testable under the cell fault model (CFM) with 33 test patterns.

Small delay caused by a resistive open is difficult to test since circuit delay varies depending on various factors such as process variations and crosstalk even in fault-free circuits. We consider the problem of discriminating a resistive open by anomaly detection using delay distributions obtained by the effect of various input signals provided to adjacent lines. We examined the circuit delay in a fault-free circuit and a faulty circuit by applying electromagnetic simulator and circuit simulator for a line structure with adjacent lines under consideration of process variations. The effectiveness of the method that discriminates a resistive open is shown for the results obtained by the simulation.

A. Chatterjee et al. proposed tests with linearity property for gate delay faults to determine, at a required clock speed, whether a circuit under test is a marginal chip or not. The latest transition time at the primary output is changed linearly with the size of the gate delay fault when the proposed test is applied to the circuit under test. To authors' knowledge, no reports on an algorithmic method for generating tests with linearity property have been presented before. In this paper, we propose a method for generating tests with linearity property for gate delay faults. The proposed method introduces a new extended timed calculus to calculate the size of a given gate delay fault that can be propagated to the primary output. The method has been applied to ISCAS benchmark circuits under the unit delay model.

In our previous paper we presented a path-tracing method of multiple gate delay fault diagnosis in combinational circuits. In this paper, we propose an improved method that uses the ambiguous delay model. This delay model makes provision for parameter variations in the manufacturing process of ICs. For the effectiveness of the current method, we propose a timed 8-valued simulation and some new diagnostic rules. Furthermore, we introduce a preparatory process that speeds up diagnosis. Also, at the end of diagnosis, additional information from the results of the preparatory process makes it possible to distinguish between non-existent faults and undiagnosed faults.

In this paper, we propose a test generation method for diagnosing transition faults. The proposed method assumes launch on capture test, and it generates test vectors for given fault pairs using a stuck-at ATPG tool so that they can be distinguished. If a given fault pair is indistinguishable, it is identified, and thus the proposed method achieves a complete diagnostic test generation. The conditions for distinguishing a fault pair are carefully considered, and they are transformed into the conditions of the detection of a stuck-at fault, and some additional logic gates are inserted in a CUT during the test generation process. Experimental results show that the proposed method can generate test vectors for distinguishing the fault pairs that are not distinguished by commercial tools, and also identify indistinguishable fault pairs.

We present a full description of a polarization-independent athermal differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) demodulator that employs silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology. Silica-based PLC DQPSK demodulator has good characteristics including low polarization dependence, mass producibility, etc. However delay line interferometer (DLI) of demodulator had the large temperature dependence of its optical characteristics, so it required large power consumption to stabilize the chip temperature by the thermo-electric cooler (TEC). We previously made a quick report about an athermal DLI to reduce a power consumption by removing the TEC. In this paper, we focus on the details of the design and the fabrication method we used to achieve the athermal characteristics, and we describe the thermal stability of the signal demodulation and the reliability of our demodulator. We described two athermalization methods; the athermalization of the transmission spectrum and the athermalization of the polarization property. These methods were successfully demonstrated with keeping a high extinction ratio and a small footprint by introducing a novel interwoven DLI configuration. This configuration can also limit the degradation of the polarization dependent phase shift (PDf) to less than 1/10 that with the conventional configuration when the phase shifters on the waveguide are driven. We used our demodulator and examined its demodulation performance for a 43 Gbit/s DQPSK signal. We also verified its long-term reliability and thermal stability against the rapid temperature change. As a result, we confirmed that our athermal demodulator performed sufficiently well for use in DQPSK systems.

A new high performance digital signal processor (DSP) that lowers power consumption, reduces chip count, and enables system cost savings for wireless communications applications was developed. The new device contains high performance, hard-wired functionality with a specialized instruction set to effectively implement the worldwide digital cellular standard algorithms, including GSM, PDC and NADC, and also features both full rate and future half rate processing by software modules. The device provides a wider operating voltage ranging from 1.5 V to 5.5 V using 5 V process based on the market requirement of 5 V supply voltage, even though a power supply voltage in most applications will be shifted to 3 V. Several circuits was newly developed to achieve low power consumption and high speed operation at both 5 V and 3 V process using the same data base. The device also features over 50 MIPS of processing power with low power consumption and 100 nA stand-by current at either 3 V or 5 V. One remarkable advantage is a flexible CPU core approach for the future spin-off devices with different ROM/RAM configurations and peripheral modules without requiring any CPU design changes. This paper describes the architecture of a lower power and high speed design with effective hardware and software modules implementations.

This paper presents the design and experimental evaluation of 60GHz small cell radio access based on IEEE 802.11ad/WiGig. The access point (AP) prototype used combines three RF modules with beamforming technology to provide 360° area coverage. In order to compensate for limited communication distance, multiple APs are employed to achieve wide area coverage. A handover algorithm suitable for IEEE 802.11ad/WiGig is employed to achieve flexible control of the cell coverage of each AP. As a proof of concept, a prototype system is set up at Narita International Airport and the capability of multiuser Gb/s wireless access is successfully demonstrated. In addition, the system behavior under stringent conditions is evaluated by load testing and throughput degradation due to co-channel and inter-channel interference is investigated.

In general, we do not know which fault model can explain the cause of the faulty values at the primary outputs in a circuit under test before starting diagnosis. Moreover, under Built-In Self Test (BIST) environment, it is difficult to know which primary output has a faulty value on the application of a failing test pattern. In this paper, we propose an effective diagnosis method on multiple fault models, based on only pass/fail information on the applied test patterns. The proposed method deduces both the fault model and the fault location based on the number of detections for the single stuck-at fault at each line, by performing single stuck-at fault simulation with both passing and failing test patterns. To improve the ability of fault diagnosis, our method uses the logic values of lines and the condition whether the stuck-at faults at the lines are detected or not by passing and failing test patterns. Experimental results show that our method can accurately identify the fault models (stuck-at fault model, AND/OR bridging fault model, dominance bridging fault model, or open fault model) for 90% faulty circuits and that the faulty sites are located within two candidate faults.

In this paper we propose two diagnosis methods for crosstalk-induced pulse faults in sequential circuits using crosstalk fault simulation. These methods compare observed responses and simulated values at primary outputs to identify a set of suspected faults that are consistent with the observed responses. The first method is a restart-based method which determines the suspected fault list by using the knowledge about the first and last failures of the test sequence. The advantage of the restart-based method over a method using full simulation is its reduction of the number of simulated faults in a process of diagnosing faults. The second method is a resumption-based method which uses stored state information. The advantage of the resumption-based method over the restart-based method is its reduction of the CPU time for diagnosing the faults. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is evaluated by experiments conducted on ISCAS '89 benchmark circuits. From the experimental results we show that the number of suspected faults obtained by our methods is sufficiently small, and the resumption-based method is substantially faster than the restart-based method.

Multi-cycle Test looks promising a way to reduce the test application time of POST (Power-on Self-Test) for achieving a targeted high fault coverage specified by ISO26262 for testing automotive devices. In this paper, we first analyze the mechanism of Stuck-at Fault Detection Degradation problem in multi-cycle test. Based on the result of our analysis we propose a novel solution named FF-Control Point Insertion technique (FF-CPI) to achieve the reduction of scan-in patterns by multi-cycle test. The FF-CPI technique modifies the captured values of scan Flip-Flops (FFs) during capture operation by directly reversing the value of partial FFs or loading random vectors. The FF-CPI technique enhances the number of detectable stuck-at faults under the capture patterns. The experimental results of ISCAS89 and ITC99 benchmarks validated the effectiveness of FF-CPI technique in scan-in pattern reduction for POST.

A 100MIPS high speed and low power fixed point Digital Signal Processor (DSP) has been developed applying 0.45µm CMOS TLM technology. The DSP contains a 16-bit32K full CMOS static RAM with a hierarchical low power architecture. The device is a RAM based DSP with a total of 4.2 million transistors and a new low power design and process which enabled an approximate 50% reduction in power as compared to conventional DSPs at 40 MHz. In order to cover very wide application requirements, this DSP is capable of operating at 1.0 V for DSP core and 3.3 V for I/O. This was achieved by new level shifter circuitry to interface with cost effective 3 V external commodity products and confirmed 80% of power reduction at Core VDD=2.0 V, I/O VDD=3.3 V at 40MHz. This paper describes the new features of the high speed and low power DSP.

The fabrication process of a novel Si interface control layer (Si ICL)-based oxide-free insulated gate structure for InP metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFETs) was successfully characterized and optimized using in-situ reflection of high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Raman scattering spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques, and applied for fabrication of MISFETs. RHEED observation indicated that the optimum initial thickness of the Si ICL with single crystal pseudomorphic growth of Si on InP is 10 . Raman scattering spectroscopy showed existence of surface strain on InP covered with the Si ICL without changing LO-phonon peak width, indicating that the Si ICL is grown in a pseudomorphic fashion. A detailed XPS analysis showed that Fermi level pinning was largely reduced by the growth of the Si ICL and its partial electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma nitridation realizing an optimum Si ICL thickness of 5 with a good interface to SiNx. C-V measurement confirmed that the optimum Si ICL-based gate formation process realized a full swing of Fermi level almost over the entire bandgap. The fabricated MISFET using the optimum gate structure exhibited excellent gate controllability and stable operation with a low gate leakage currents.

This paper presents methods for detecting transistor short faults using logic level fault simulation and test generation. The paper considers two types of transistor level faults, namely strong shorts and weak shorts, which were introduced in our previous research. These faults are defined based on the values of outputs of faulty gates. The proposed fault simulation and test generation are performed using gate-level tools designed to deal with stuck-at faults, and no transistor-level tools are required. In the test generation process, a circuit is modified by inserting inverters, and a stuck-at test generator is used. The modification of a circuit does not mean a design-for-testability technique, as the modified circuit is used only during the test generation process. Further, generated test patterns are compacted by fault simulation. Also, since the weak short model involves uncertainty in its behavior, we define fault coverage and fault efficiency in three different way, namely, optimistic, pessimistic and probabilistic and assess them. Finally, experimental results for ISCAS benchmark circuits are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Testing for delay faults is very important in the verification of the timing behavior of digital circuits. When a circuit which is unable to operate at the desired clock speed is identified, it is necessary to locate the delay fault(s) affecting the circuit in order to remedy the situation. In this paper, we present a path-tracing method of multiple gate delay fault diagnosis in combinational circuits. We first present the basic rules for deducing suspected faults based on the multiple gate delay fault assumption. Next, in order to improve diagnostic resolution, we introduce rules for deducing non-existent faults based on the fault-free responses at the primary outputs. Using these rules, we present the detailed method for diagnosing multiple delay faults based on paths sensitized by test-pairs generated for marginal delays and gate delay faults [7]. Finally, we present results obtained from experiments on the ISCAS '85 benchmark circuits. The experimental results show the effectiveness of our method.

High-speed and low-power DSPs have been developed for versatile hand set applications. The DSP contains a 16-bit fixed point DSP core with multiple buses, highly tuned instruction sets and a low-power architecture, featuring CPU power with 404.5 µ W/MHz, chip power with 2.08 mW/MHz at peak and 200 µA stand-by current and 160 MHz/160 MIPS performance by a single DSP core, and also operates at 0.68 V within the temperature range from -40C to 125C in the worst case (Weak corner) even using much higher I-off current process compared to a conventional process to obtain a faster operating frequency. In this paper, we discuss circuit design techniques to continue scaling down valuable IP cores keeping the same functionality, better speed performance, and lower power dissipation with much lower voltage operation capability. For further power reduction by DSP software, Run-time Power Control (RPC) has been demonstrated in an MP3 player using 100 MHz/100 MIPS DSP at 1.8 V, which is a real-time application running on an Internet audio evaluation module experimentally and we obtained 32-60% power reduction on various music source data.

A novel InGaAs/InAlAs insulated gate (IG) pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) having a silicon interface control layer (Si ICL) is successfully fabricated and characterized. Systematic efforts to characterize and optimize the insulated gate structure and the PHEMT fabrication process were made by using in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. This led to successful fabrication of a novel IG-PHEMT showing excellent stable DC characteristics with a good pinch off and a high transconductance (177 mS/mm), very small gate leakage currents, very high gate breakdown voltages (about 40 V) and respectable RF characteristics fT = 9 GHz and fmax=38 GHz.