Radiation-Hardened Circuit Validation Tool
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing circuit design tools face challenges in efficiently validating radiation-hardened designs, which require complex constraints and additional componentry, leading to increased complexity and the need for costly and time-consuming testing protocols.
Innovation Solution
A circuit design validation tool that utilizes a set of coded rules to evaluate circuit cells within a circuit design netlist, providing a circuit evaluation report that indicates failures with respect to radiation-hardened design criteria, thereby streamlining the validation process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If circuit components are made triple-redundant to mitigate radiation damage, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The validation tool performs preliminary automated checking of triple-redundancy constraints during the design phase, identifying violations before fabrication. This prevents the need for costly post-fabrication testing and ensures reliability requirements are met while managing complexity through early detection of design errors.
2Reliability
If manual testing protocols are implemented to validate radiation-hardened circuits, then reliability is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical testing processes with an automated software validation tool that systematically checks circuit designs against predefined constraints. This substitution eliminates time-consuming manual testing while maintaining validation accuracy through comprehensive automated rule-based checking of triple-redundancy and other radiation-hardening requirements.
3Reliability
If comprehensive testing protocols are implemented to ensure radiation hardening, then reliability is improved, but loss of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The validation tool performs comprehensive checking preliminarily during design validation, identifying all constraint violations before physical prototyping or fabrication. This preliminary action prevents waste of energy and resources on testing designs that already contain known violations, thereby maintaining thoroughness while reducing overall testing costs.
4Productivity
If automated validation tool is used to check circuit designs, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The validation tool serves as an intermediary between the circuit design and the designer, automatically checking constraints and providing feedback without requiring the designer to manually verify each constraint. This intermediary performs the complex validation logic, freeing the designer from tedious manual checking while maintaining high validation speed and accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
One example includes a method for validating a circuit design. The method includes providing a set of coded rules. Each of the coded rules can define conditions for circuit cells to qualify the circuit design as being radiation-hardened. The method also includes accessing a circuit design netlist associated with the circuit design from a circuit design database. The method also includes evaluating each of the circuit cells in the circuit design netlist with respect to each of the coded rules. The method further includes providing a circuit evaluation report comprising an indication of failure of a set of the circuit cells with respect to one or more of the coded rules in response to the evaluation.