A Fault Dictionary-Based Fault Diagnosis Approach for CMOS Analog Integrated Circuits

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a simulation-before-test (SBT) fault diagnosis methodology based on the use of a fault dictionary approach. This technique allows the detection and localization of the most likely defects of open-circuit type occurring in Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (CMOS) analog integrated circuits (ICs) interconnects. The fault dictionary is built by simulating the most likely defects causing the faults to be detected at the layout level. Then, for each injected fault, the spectre’s frequency responses and the power consumption obtained by simulation are stored in a table which constitutes the fault dictionary. In fact, each line in the fault dictionary constitutes a fault signature used to identify and locate a considered defect. When testing, the circuit under test is excited with the same stimulus, and the responses obtained are compared to the stored ones. To prove the efficiency of the proposed technique, a full custom CMOS operational amplifier is implemented in 0.25 µm technology and the most likely faults of opencircuit type are deliberately injected and simulated at the layout level.