Systems and methods for analyzing failure rates due to soft/hard errors in the design of a digital electronic device

Abstract

A method is provided for analyzing failure rates due to soft/hard errors in the design of a digital electronic device. The method includes creating an error injection point by introducing a fault into a code path having a plurality of levels; determining an error detection point at which the introduced fault becomes detectable; creating a list of all of the logic cells forming the cone of logic that forms the data input to the error detection point, thereby generating a first logic cone list; creating a list of all of the logic cells forming the cone of logic that forms the data input to the error injection point, thereby generating a second logic cone list; determining the intersection between the first and second logic cone lists; and conducting a failure rate analysis on the intersection between the first and second logic cone lists.