New Journal Article Published

We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest article titled “Analog Defect Injection and Fault Simulation Techniques: A Systematic Literature Review” in the journal IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems.

Abstract

Since the last century, the exponential growth of the semiconductor industry has led to the creation of tiny and complex integrated circuits, e.g., sensors, actuators, and smart power. Innovative techniques are needed to ensure the correct functionality of analog devices that are ubiquitous in every smart system. The ISO 26262 standard for functional safety in the automotive context specifies that fault injection is necessary to validate all electronic devices. For decades, standardization of defect modeling and injection mainly focused on digital circuits and, in a minor part, on analog ones. An initial attempt is being made with the IEEE P2427 draft standard that started to give a structured and formal organization to the analog testing field. Various methods have been proposed in the literature to speed up the fault simulation of the defect universe for an analog circuit. A more limited number of papers seek to reduce the overall simulation time by reducing the number of defects to be simulated. This literature survey describes the state-of-the-art of analog defect injection and the fault simulation methods. The survey is based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodological flow, allowing for a systematic and complete literature survey. Each selected paper has been categorized and presented to provide an overview of all the available approaches. In addition, the limitations of the various approaches are discussed by showing possible future directions.

Details

• Title: Analog Defect Injection and Fault Simulation Techniques: A Systematic Literature Review
• Authors: Sadia Azam, Nicola Dall’Ora, Enrico Fraccaroli, Renaud Gillon, Franco Fummi
• Journal: IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems
• Volume: 43, Number: 1, Year: 2024
• Pages: 16-29
• Keywords: Circuit faults, Surveys, Databases, Systematics, Transistors, Analog circuits, SPICE, Analog circuits, Defect injection, Defect models, Fault simulation, Functional safety, SPICE-based simulation, Transistor-level models

Links

• DOI: 10.1109/TCAD.2023.3298698
• Open Access Version: Read Here

This systematic literature survey provides a comprehensive review of analog defect injection and fault simulation techniques, offering insights into the state-of-the-art approaches, their limitations, and possible future directions. The paper utilizes the PRISMA methodological flow to ensure a systematic and complete analysis of the literature, making it an essential read for researchers in the field of analog circuit design and functional safety.

We thank all our collaborators and colleagues for their invaluable contributions to this work. For further details, feel free to explore the links provided above.