Pattern-independent current estimation for reliability analysis of CMOS circuits

Abstract

Accurate and efficient expected current is required in circuit designs to analyze electromigration failure rate, power consumption, voltage drop, etc. A pattern-independent simulation approach for estimating this expected current waveform drawn by CMOS circuitry has been developed. Four original concepts are presented which allow an efficient and accurate estimation of expected current waveforms. They are: probability waveforms, probability waveform propagation, probabilistic circuit models, and statistical timing analysis. This approach is considerably faster than traditional methods and yields comparable results.