Validation and test generation for oscillatory noise in VLSI interconnects

Abstract

Inductance of on-chip interconnects gives rise to signal overshoots and undershoots that can cause logic errors. By considering technology trends, we show that in 0.13 /spl mu/m technology such noise in local interconnects embedded in combinational logic can exceed the threshold voltage. We show the impact of such noise on different kinds of circuits. The magnitude of this noise can increase due to process variations. We present an algorithm for generating vectors for validation and manufacturing test to detect logic-value errors caused by inductance induced oscillation. To facilitate the vector generation method, we have derived analytical expressions, as functions of rise and fall times for (i) the magnitude of overshoots and undershoots, and (ii) the settling time, i.e., the time required for the circuit response to settle to a bound close to the final value.