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.

Recently, due to the development of design and manufacturing technologies for VLSI systems, an embedded system becomes more and more complex. Consequently, not only the performance of chips, but also the flexibility and dynamic adaptation of the implemented systems are required. To achieve these requirements, a partially reconfigurable device is promising. In this paper, we propose an efficient data structure to manage the reconfigurable units. And then, on the assumption that each task utilizes the rectangle shaped resources, a very simple MER enumeration algorithm based on this data structure is proposed. By utilizing the result of MER enumeration, the free space on the reconfigurable device can be used sufficiently. We analyze the complexity of the proposed algorithm and confirm its efficiency by experiments.

This paper proposes a procedure for avoiding delay faults in field with slack assessment during standby time. The proposed procedure performs path delay testing and checks if the slack is larger than a threshold value using selectable delay embedded in basic elements (BE). If the slack is smaller than the threshold, a pair of BEs to be replaced, which maximizes the path slack, is identified. Experimental results with two application circuits mapped on a coarse-grained architecture show that for aging-induced delay degradation a small threshold slack, which is less than 1 ps in a test case, is enough to ensure the delay fault prediction.

In this paper, we propose a placement and routing method for a new memory-based programmable logic device (MPLD) and confirm its capability by placing and routing benchmark circuits. An MPLD consists of multiple-output look-up tables (MLUTs) that can be used as logic and/or routing elements, whereas field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) consist of LUTs (logic elements) and switch blocks (routing elements). MPLDs contain logic circuits more efficiently than FPGAs because of their flexibility and area efficiency. However, directly applying the existing placement and routing algorithms of FPGAs to MPLDs overcrowds the placed logic cells and causes a shortage of routing domains between logic cells. Our simulated annealing-based method considers the detailed wire congestion and nearness between logic cells based on the cost function and reserves the area for routing. In the experiments, our method reduced wire congestion and successfully placed and routed 27 out of 31 circuits, 13 of which could not be placed or routed using the versatile place and route tool (VPR), a well-known method for FPGAs.

Recently, reconfigurable devices are widely used in the fields of small amount production and trial production. They are also expected to be utilized in such mission-critical fields as space development, because system update and pseudo-repair can be achieved remotely by reconfiguring. However, in the case of conventional reconfigurable devices, configuration memory upsets caused by radiation and alpha particles reconfigure the device unpredictably, resulting in fatal system failures. Therefore, a reconfigurable device with high fault-tolerance against configuration upsets is required. In this paper, we propose an architecture of a fault-tolerant reconfigurable device that autonomously repairs configuration upsets by itself without interrupting system operations. The device consists of a 2D array of "Autonomous-Repair Cells" each of which repairs its upsets autonomously. The architecture has a scalability in fault tolerance; a finer-grained Autonomous-Repair Cell provides higher fault-tolerance. To determine the architecture, we analyze four autonomous repair techniques of the cell experimentally. Then, two autonomous repair techniques, simple multiplexing (S.M.) and memory multiplexing (M.M.), are applied; the former to programmable logics and the latter to cell-to-cell routing resources. Through evaluation, we show that proposed device achieves more than 10 years average lifetime against configuration upsets even in a severe situation such as a satellite orbit.

We have fabricated a LUT-based FPGA device with functionalities measuring within-die variations in a 90 nm process. Variations are measured using ring oscillators implemented as a configuration of the FPGA. Random variations are dominant in a 4848 configurable array laid out in a 3 mm3 mm square region. It has a functionality to measure delays on actual signal paths between flip flops by providing two clock pulses. Measured variations are used to maximize the operating frequency of each device by choosing the optimal paths. Optimizations of routing paths using a simple model circuit reveals that performance of the circuit is enhanced by 2.88% in average and a maximum of 9.34%.

In this paper, we show that speed and yield of reconfigurable devices can be enhanced by utilizing within-die (WID) delay variations. An LUT Array LSI is fabricated to confirm whether FPGAs have clear WID variations to be utilized. We can measure delay variations by counting the number of LUTs a signal propagates within a certain time. Clear die-to-die (D2D) and WID variations are observed. We propose a variation model from the measurement results. Adequacy of the model is discussed from randomness of the random component. Effect of the speed and yield enhancement is confirmed using the proposed model. Yield increases from 80.0% to 100.0% by optimizing configurations.

A dynamically reconfigurable device is a device that can change its hardware configuration arbitrarily often in order to achieve the desired performance and functions. Since several tasks are executed on the device concurrently, scheduling of both task execution and reconfiguration is an important problem. In our model, the dynamically reconfigurable device is represented by a two-level hierarchical automaton, and execution of each periodic task is represented by a timed discrete event system. We propose a composition rule to get an automaton, which represents non-preemptive execution of periodic tasks on the dynamically reconfigurable device. We introduce a method to get a feasible execution sequence of tasks by using state feedback control.

The Flex Power FPGA is presented as a novel FPGA model offering the ability to configure the trade-off between power consumption and speed for each logic element by adjusting the threshold voltage. This FPGA model targets the reduction of static power consumption, which has become one of the most important issues in the development of future-generation devices. The present paper describes a preliminary simulation study of the Flex Power FPGA. A method to effectively assign threshold voltages to transistors at a prescribed granularity based on a timing analysis of the mapped circuit is implemented using the VPR simulator, and the static power reduction for 70 nm technologies is estimated using MCNC benchmark circuits. Simulation results show that the average static power can be reduced to as little as 1/30 of that in the corresponding conventional FPGA. This FPGA model is also demonstrated to be effective with future technologies, where the proportion of static power will be greater.

In this paper, the efficient structure of an LUT (look-up table) for an asynchronous reconfigurable PCA (Plastic Cell Architecture) device is investigated. A total of 15 types of implementation alternatives for LUTs are evaluated and compared in an empirical manner in which full custom layout design is developed and simulated. The evaluation results show that by introducing transmission gates in memory cells in an LUT, read time can be improved by 14.3% at the cost of 13.6% area increase compared to a conventional speed oriented implementation. It is also shown that use of transmission gates reduces 6.4% of area and 19.2% of read time against a conventional area oriented LUT implementation.