A practical implementation of BICS for safety-critical applications

This paper presents the challenges and solutions of applying Built-In-Current Sensors (BICS) to a safety-critical IC design for the purpose of in-situ state-of-health monitoring. The developed Quiescent Current Monitor (QCM) system consists of multiple BICS and digital control logic. The QCM BICS ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Smith, P.A., Campbell, D.V.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Built-in self-test
Digital control
Digital simulation
Fabrication
Leak detection
Leakage current
Logic
Microelectronics
Monitoring
Silicon
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Summary:This paper presents the challenges and solutions of applying Built-In-Current Sensors (BICS) to a safety-critical IC design for the purpose of in-situ state-of-health monitoring. The developed Quiescent Current Monitor (QCM) system consists of multiple BICS and digital control logic. The QCM BICS can detect leakage current as low as 4 /spl mu/A, run at system speed, and has relatively low real estate overhead. The QCM digital logic incorporates extensive debug capability and Built-ln-Self-Test (BIST). We performed analog and digital simulations of the integrated BICS, and performed layout and tape-out of the design. Silicon is now in fabrication. Results to date show that, for some systems, BICS can be a practical and relatively inexpensive method for providing state-of-health monitoring of safety-critical microelectronics.
DOI:10.1109/DBT.2000.843690