Analog Fault Visualization for IC Design Yield
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Solution Overview
Problem
The integrated circuit (IC) industry faces challenges in reducing yield loss due to systematic defects during manufacturing, which are exacerbated by the increasing complexity of subtle design processes, leading to unique defects in ICs, and existing tools for fault diagnosis are poorly integrated, making it difficult to design robust fault-free ICs.
Innovation Solution
An analog fault visualization system and method that extracts data from schematics and layouts, creates a netlist, simulates faults, and provides visualization and debugging tools to identify and modify faults, using a client-server architecture with databases and tools for fault extraction, generation, simulation, and back annotation to enhance fault sensitivity analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate tools are used for fault diagnosis, then specific fault analysis functions can be performed, but the tools are poorly integrated making it difficult to design robust fault-free ICs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate fault diagnosis tools (fault extraction, fault generation, simulation, and visualization) into a single integrated system. The system uses a unified architecture where all components communicate through standardized interfaces, allowing designers to perform comprehensive fault analysis without managing multiple disconnected tools, thereby improving reliability while managing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The fault diagnosis system is designed as a universal platform that can handle various types of faults (stuck-at faults, bridging faults, manufacturing defects) across different IC design stages. The system provides multi-functional capabilities including fault extraction from layouts, automatic fault generation, circuit simulation, and visualized debugging, all within a single toolset that adapts to different analysis requirements.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If comprehensive fault analysis tools are implemented, then fault diagnosis capability is improved, but the complexity of the design process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary fault extraction and fault generation during the design phase, before actual manufacturing. By pre-identifying potential failure points and generating corresponding test cases, the system enables early detection of design vulnerabilities without adding complexity to the manufacturing process. The automated fault generation from layout data ensures comprehensive coverage without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual copies of the IC layout and netlist data to perform fault analysis simulations without affecting the actual design. Fault scenarios are modeled as copies of the original circuit, allowing extensive testing and analysis of failure modes while preserving the integrity of the master design files, thus improving detection capability without complicating the actual design process.
3Measurement precision
If fault simulation and visualization are performed, then fault identification is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fault analysis process is segmented into distinct phases: fault extraction from layout, fault generation, selective simulation based on fault severity, and visualization. By dividing the comprehensive analysis into manageable segments, the system can prioritize critical faults for detailed simulation while using faster analysis methods for less critical issues, improving identification accuracy without requiring full exhaustive simulation of all possible faults.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for visualizing faults in a circuit design includes simulating faults for a circuit design in a layout and a schematic, editing the layout and schematic to include the simulated fault, and linking the layout and schematic with the fault simulation.