Circuitry and method for measuring negative bias temperature instability (nbti) and hot carrier injection (hci) aging effects using edge sensitive sampling

Abstract

Toggling functional critical path timing sensors measure delays in toggling functional critical paths that continuously receive patterns from an aging pattern generator. Wear is accelerated. A margin delay adjustment controller sweeps margin delays until failures occur to measure delays. The margin delay is then adjusted in functional critical path timing sensors that add the margin delay to functional critical paths that carry user data or chip controls during normal operation. When the path delays fail to meet requirements, the functional critical path timing sensors signal a controller to increase VDD. When no failures occur over a period of time, the controller decreases VDD. Wear on the toggling functional critical paths is accelerated using both toggle and low-transition-density patterns. Circuit aging is compensated for by increasing margin delays to timing sensors.