The Post-silicon Validation Method of standard cell Libraries
The problem of validation DDK is fundamental despite of the level of semiconductor technology. The transition to modern submicron technologies significantly increases its relevant, since errors in the project inherited form the design tools will inevitably lead to significant time and, as a consequence, financial costs for their identification and elimination. This work is devoted to the studying and developing the method of validation of standard cell libraries, that are a part of DDK, in silicon. The decreasing in technological standards, high competition and the increase in the cost of manufacturing projects in silicon make the task of providing high quality DDK. Quality should be considered as a set of criteria: the absence of errors in the DDK itself; ensuring the compliance of the SPICE-modeling results and the measurements in silicon; certification of functionality in the maximum permissible, maximum and advanced modes of operation of each element of the DDK. Theoretically, this allows to validate the functionality and characteristics of a limited set of key library elements, disseminating the results of their verification to DDK as a whole, but it does not guarantee the full working capacity of the project in unvalidated elements are involved in the synthesis process. It is important to note that there are design areas for which the deviation of the most important characteristics of the elements, that make up DDK, is unacceptable. These areas, in the first place, include the design of radiation-resistant integrated circuits. It is possible to guarantee the providing of a predetermined level of resistance of the final product to special types of influencing factor only if all the elements from the used logical basis provide a level of resistance not lower than required. The stability of the entire DDK can be confirmed only after validation of all the elements in silicon included in its composition according to the relevant parameters. There are methods for assessing the impact of radiation effects at the stage of circuit simulation, but validation in silicon has a higher priority. Complex post-silicon validation will also allow identifying the elements that do not meet the target criterion in term of the required parameters (for example resistance to special types of influencing factors, speed, power consumption, leakage, etc.), with the aim of their redesigning and, as a result, increasing the overall quality of DDK. Thus, to solve the given problem, it is necessary to develop a method of DDK validation in silicon.