On bounding the delay of a critical path

Process variations cause different behavior of timingdependent effects across different chips. In this work, we analyze one example of timing-dependent effects, crosscoupling capacitance, and the complex problem space created by considering coupling and process variations together. The delay of a critical path under these conditions is difficult to bound for design and test. We develop a methodology that analyzes this complex space by decomposing the problem space along three dimensions: the aggressor space, test space, and sample space. For design, we utilize an OBDD-based approach to prune the aggressor space based on logical constraints, which can be combined with a worst-case timing window simulator to prune based on both logical and timing constraints. After pruning, the reduced aggressor space can be used to derive a more accurate timing bound. Solving the problems in the test and sample spaces is postponed to the post-silicon stage, where we propose a test selection methodo...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ICCAD
• Authors: Leonard Lee, Li-C. Wang
• Keywords: Aggressor Space, Complex Problem Space, Hardware, ICCAD 2006, Test Space