A unified online fault detection scheme via checking of stability violation

Abstract

In ultra-deep submicro technology, two of the paramount reliability concerns are soft errors and device aging. Although intensive studies have been done to face the two challenges, most take them separately so far, thereby failing to reach better performance-cost tradeoffs. To support a more efficient design tradeoff, we present a new fault model, Stability Violation, derived from analysis of signal behavior. Furthermore, we propose a unified fault detection scheme---Stability Violation based Fault Detection (SVFD), by which the soft errors (both Single Event Upset and Single Event Transient), aging delay, and delay faults can be uniformly handled. SVFD can greatly facilitate soft error-resistant and aging-aware designs. SVFD is validated by conducting a set of intensive Hspice simulations targeting 65nm CMOS technology. Experimental results show that SVFD has more robust capability for fault detection than previous schemes at comparable overhead in terms of area, power, and performance.