A mechanism for detecting on-chip radio frequency interference of field-programmable gate array

Abstract

One-chip measurements without modifying the physical structure of packaged integrated circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) is challenging. This paper proposes a sensor for detecting the radio frequency interference (RFI) on the supply inside the FPGA chip. The core of the sensor is a ring oscillator built with FPGA look-up tables. The paper proposes a model to predict the response of the ring oscillator to power supply RFI, and shows that the normalized frequency shift of the ring oscillator resulting from the interference is determined by the amplitude of the interference. This relationship is independent of the interference frequency and the size of the ring oscillator. To verify the model, simulations on transistor-level look-up tables of 130-nm and 40-nm technologies were performed. The simulation results matched well with the model. In addition to simulation, an FPGA test board was fabricated. Measurements of FPGA RFI response were performed and the results were consistent with the theoretical model. The effect of the interference on the ring oscillator provided a mechanism to detect the amplitude of the supply interference on the FPGA chip. The frequency of the ring oscillator was monitored through the supply pin by measuring the spectrum of the supply noise. The properties of the sensor, such as constant response in a wide frequency range, insensitiveness to the oscillator size, ease of implementation, and minimal modification requirement of the physical structure, made it suitable for performing on-chip FPGA measurements.