Estimating delay deterioration due to device degradation in integrated circuits

Abstract

A method for estimating delay deterioration in an integrated circuit comprising estimating degradation in at least one characteristic of each device defined within the integrated circuit using voltages and logic values monitored during a simulation of the digital circuit. Generating an end-of-life netlist in which the at least one device characteristic of each device has been modified to reflect the estimated degradation or estimating a change in timing delay of each device directly from the estimated degradation of the at least one characteristic of each device. Performing a timing analysis using the estimated change in timing delay of each device to determine circuit path delays. The timing analysis being static or statistical.

1 . A method for estimating delay deterioration in an integrated circuit comprising:
 estimating degradation over each of one or more lifetimes in at least one characteristic of each device defined within the integrated circuit using voltages and logic values monitored during a simulation of the integrated circuit;   estimating a change in timing delay for each of the one or more lifetimes of each device directly from each of the estimated degradations of the at least one characteristic of each device; and   performing a timing analysis for each of the estimated changes in timing delay to determine circuit path delays over each of the one or more lifetimes.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one characteristic includes threshold-voltage as a function of at least one of a device's operating voltage, operating temperature, on and off duration times and transition slew. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the change in timing delay is estimated using equation based fitting to map a nominal timing delay of the device to each of the estimated degradations. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further including estimating a probability of failure of the integrated circuit over each of the one or more lifetimes for a given operating specification based on each of the determined circuit path delays. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the simulation uses a specific pattern representative of a workload to be seen by the integrated circuit. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the timing analysis is static or statistical. 
     
     
         7 . A method for estimating delay deterioration in an integrated circuit comprising:
 estimating a degradation over each of one or more lifetimes in at least one characteristic of each device defined within the integrated circuit using voltages and logic values monitored during a simulation of the integrated circuit;   generating an end-of-life netlist for each of the one or more lifetimes in which the at least one device characteristic of each device has been modified to reflect each of the estimated degradations; and   performing a timing analysis for each of the end-of-life netlists to determine circuit path delays over each of the one or more lifetimes.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the at least one characteristic includes threshold-voltage as a function of at least one of a device's operating voltage, operating temperature, on and off duration times and transition slew. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further including estimating a probability of failure of the integrated circuit over each of the one or more lifetimes for a given operating specification based on each of the determined circuit path delays. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the simulation uses a specific pattern representative of a workload to be seen by the integrated circuit. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the timing analysis is static or statistical. 
     
     
         12 - 25 . (canceled)