Computer-aided hardware design and test With the increasing immersion of electronics in our society, more and more tasks depend on ICs. In many applications, such as in autonomous cars or biomedical, the absolute reliability of the circuits is crucial because human lives can be at risk. While recent developments have improved fault coverage in the testing of mixed-signal integrated circuits, latent defects remain a problem that prevents the industry's goal of zero defect escapes. Such latent defects are present in the ICs right after fabrication, but do not cause a failure yet at initial testing; unfortunately, they become active after some time of using the IC in the field.
The research aims to develop new structures or techniques that allow the improved detection and activation of latent defects before they generate failures. Focus is on the exploration of DfT and BIST structures that boost the defect coverage of analog/mixed-signal ICs without having a major impact on extra cost and on the performance of the circuit under test.
