Circuit aging prediction for low-power operation

Rui Zheng, Jyothi Velamala, Vijay Reddy, Varsha Balakrishnan, Evelyn Mintarno, Subhasish Mitra, Srikanth Krishnan, Yu Cao

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

Low-power circuit operations, such as dynamic voltage scaling and the sleep mode, pose a unique challenge to aging prediction. Traditional aging models assume constant voltage and averaged activity factor, ignoring the impact of the long sleep period, and thus, result in a significant overestimation of the degradation rate. To accurately predict the aging effect in low-power design, this work first examines critical model assumptions in the reaction-diffusion process that is responsible for the NBTI effect. By using the correct diffusion profile, it then proposes a new aging model that effectively analyzes the degradation under various low-power operations. The new model well predicts the aging behavior of scaled CMOS measurement data (45nm and 65nm) with different operation patterns, especially sleep mode operation and dynamic voltage scaling. Compared to previous aging models, the new result captures the essential role of the long recovery phase in circuit aging, reducing unnecessary guardbanding in reliability protection.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2009 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, CICC '09
Pages427-430
Number of pages4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Event2009 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, CICC '09 - San Jose, CA, United States
Duration: Sep 13 2009Sep 16 2009

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Custom Integrated Circuits Conference
ISSN (Print)0886-5930

Other

Other2009 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, CICC '09
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Jose, CA
Period9/13/099/16/09

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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