Semiconductor Diagnostic Circuit With Error Signal Masking
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a demand to ensure the safety of vehicles by detecting and quickly responding to failures in semiconductor devices, particularly automotive ICs, to prevent malfunctions that could compromise vehicle safety, as conventional self-diagnostic functions are limited to pre-operation periods and do not adequately address ongoing operational risks.
Innovation Solution
The semiconductor device incorporates a control circuit with error detection parts and a diagnostic circuit that performs in-operation diagnosis, using a mask circuit to prevent erroneous signals during on-demand self-diagnostic testing, ensuring continuous operation while detecting and masking errors in protection and detection elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If in-operation diagnosis is performed using the error detection part during analog circuit operation, then the reliability of failure detection is improved, but the risk of erroneous error detection signals affecting normal operation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mask circuit is pre-configured to block error detection signals during diagnosis mode before erroneous signals can affect normal operation. This preliminary protective action ensures that when diagnosis is performed during operation, any erroneous error detection signals are prevented from reaching the determination circuit, thus resolving the contradiction between improved failure detection reliability and prevention of harmful effects from erroneous signals
Solution Approach 2:
The mask circuit acts as an intermediary element between the error detection part and the determination circuit. During in-operation diagnosis, the mask circuit selectively blocks error detection signals based on the diagnosis mode, serving as a mediator that allows legitimate diagnostic information to pass while filtering out potentially harmful erroneous signals, thus enabling reliable failure detection without compromising normal operation
2Device complexity
If self-diagnostic function is limited to pre-operation period only, then the complexity of the system is reduced, but the ability to detect failures during operation is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The diagnostic system is made dynamic by enabling the error detection part and diagnosis mode to operate during different phases - pre-operation and in-operation. The control circuit dynamically switches between diagnosis modes, allowing the system to perform comprehensive diagnostics both before and during operation without requiring separate static diagnostic systems, thus improving operational failure detection while managing complexity through dynamic reconfiguration
Solution Approach 2:
The error detection part and diagnosis circuit are designed with multi-functionality to serve both pre-operation and in-operation diagnostic needs. The same hardware components perform different diagnostic functions at different times, eliminating the need for separate dedicated diagnostic systems for each phase, thus achieving operational failure detection capability without proportionally increasing system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
To ensure the safety of a machine in which a semiconductor device is provided. In a semiconductor device (10), a diagnostic circuit (113) is able to perform in-operation diagnosis (ABIST on-demand) that operates an error detection part (11P, 11D) in a state in which an analog circuit (131, 132) operates, and the semiconductor device is configured to have a mask circuit (114) that masks inputting of an error detection signal (SEP, SED) to a determination circuit (111, 112) when the in-operation diagnosis (ABIST on-demand) is performed.