Texas Instruments Corporation

Suresh R Puthucode

Anindya Saha

Sudheer Prasad

Anmol Sharma

Vivek Gorakhnath Pawar

A characteristic is measured on multiple portions of an integrated circuit, and the supply voltage adjusted based on the measurements. In an embodiment, the characteristic corresponds to propagation delay which indicates whether the integrated circuit is implemented with a strong, weak or nominal process corner. In general, the supply voltage can be increased in the case of a weak process corner and decreased in the case of a strong process corner.

Providing optimal supply voltage to integrated circuits

The failure rate of an integrated circuit (IC) is quickly determined by analyzing the corresponding design. The IC is partitioned into multiple cells, with each cell typically containing a logic gate. A default input signal is assumed for each cell and the default failure in time (FIT) rates of the cells are computed. The default signal is selected based on pessimistic assumptions on overshoots. The IC is analyzed to determine the cells (&ldquo;overshoot cells&rdquo;) that would actually experience overshoots. Detailed analysis is performed on the overshoot cells to determine exact FIT rates. The failure rate of the IC is determined based on the exact FIT rates for the overshoot cells and the default FIT rates for the remaining cells.

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Bengaluru, India

Suresh R Puthucode