G06F2117/06

Reliability of an electronic device

Improving reliability of an electronic device includes: determining whether a side space of an interconnect of the electronic device is available for a redundant interconnect, determining whether a line end electrically coupled to the interconnect may be extended into the side space for a distance sufficient to accommodate a redundant interconnect, extending the line end into the side space for the distance when available, and adding the redundant interconnect electrically coupled to the extended line end.

POWER MODE-BASED OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY-AWARE CODE COVERAGE
20180218092 · 2018-08-02 ·

This application discloses a design verification tool implementing in a functional verification environment with a computing system, a hardware emulator, or a combination thereof. The design verification tool can identify, from a power intent specification of a circuit design, operational states of circuitry described in the circuit design, and generate code coverage bins based on the operational states of the circuitry. The operational states of the circuitry correspond to operational capabilities of the circuitry supported by each of the power modes for the circuitry. The code coverage bins are configured to store code coverage events occurring when the circuitry operates in different power modes. The design verification tool can utilize the code coverage bins to record the code coverage events performed by the circuitry during functional verification operations in a verification environment, and also can generate at least one coverage metric based on the records of the code coverage events.

SIMON-BASED HASHING FOR FUSE VALIDATION

An instruction and logic for a Simon-based hashing for validation are described. In one embodiment, a processor comprises: a memory the memory to store a plurality of values; and a hash circuit comprising a Simon cipher circuit operable to receive the plurality of values from the memory, to apply a Simon cipher, and to generate an output for each of the plurality of values; and circuitry coupled to the Simon cipher circuit to combine outputs from the Simon cipher circuit for each value of the plurality of values into a hash digest that is indicative of whether the values in the memory are valid.

PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, DESIGN SUPPORT SYSTEM, AND CONFIGURATION METHOD

Provided is a programmable logic integrated circuit wherein even if a failure occurs in any resistance-variable element, remedy would be possible and hence the improvement of reliability has been achieved. In a programmable logic integrated circuit comprising resistance-variable elements, when the states of the resistance-variable elements are to be changed according to externally inputted configuration information, a control means uses a reading means to read the states of the respective resistance-variable elements, and then uses a writing means to change only the states of resistance-changing elements that are different from a state indicated by the configuration information.

DUMMY FIN CELL PLACEMENT IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT LAYOUT
20180137232 · 2018-05-17 ·

In a method of forming an integrated circuit (IC) layout, an empty region in the IC layout is identified by a processor circuit, wherein the empty region is a region of the IC layout not including any active fins. A first portion of the empty region is filled with a first plurality of dummy fin cells, wherein each of the first plurality of dummy fin cells is based on a first standard dummy fin cell, and wherein the first standard dummy fin cell has a first gate width and comprises a first plurality of partitions. A second portion of the empty region is filled with a second plurality of dummy fin cells, wherein each of the second plurality of dummy fin cells is based on a second standard dummy fin cell, and wherein the second standard dummy fin cell has a second gate width and comprises a second plurality of partitions.

Out-of-Bounds Recovery Circuit
20180107537 · 2018-04-19 ·

Out-of-bounds recovery circuits configured to detect an out-of-bounds violation in an electronic device, and cause the electronic device to transition to a predetermined safe state when an out-of-bounds violation is detected. The out-of-bounds recovery circuits include detection logic configured to detect that an out-of-bounds violation has occurred when a processing element of the electronic device has fetched an instruction from an unallowable memory address range for the current operating state of the electronic device; and transition logic configured to cause the electronic device to transition to a predetermined safe state when an out-of-bounds violation has been detected by the detection logic.

Dummy gate placement methodology to enhance integrated circuit performance

A method for increasing the performance of an integrated circuit by reducing the number of dummy gate geometries next to transistors in the speed path of an integrated circuit.

SAFETY ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR WIRING
20180053278 · 2018-02-22 ·

A safety analysis system for wiring, including: a storage unit that stores electric wire-terminal connector correlation information in which each of a plurality of electric wires and a pair of connectors are correlated with each other, terminal connector-function correlation information in which the pair of connectors located at terminals and a function of a device to which the connectors are connected are correlated with each other, and function determination information including a combination of a plurality of functions that are not allowed to be lost at the same time; and a processing unit that matches the electric wire-terminal connector correlation information and the terminal connector-function correlation information when the wire harness is identified, and generates electric wire-function correlation information in which each of the plurality of electric wires and the function of the device are correlated with each other.

DUMMY FIN CELL PLACEMENT IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT LAYOUT
20180004882 · 2018-01-04 ·

In a method of forming an integrated circuit (IC) layout, an empty region in the IC layout is identified by a processor circuit, wherein the empty region is a region of the IC layout not including any active fins. A first portion of the empty region is filled with a first plurality of dummy fin cells, wherein each of the first plurality of dummy fin cells is based on a first standard dummy fin cell, and wherein the first standard dummy fin cell has a first gate width and comprises a first plurality of partitions. A second portion of the empty region is filled with a second plurality of dummy fin cells, wherein each of the second plurality of dummy fin cells is based on a second standard dummy fin cell, and wherein the second standard dummy fin cell has a second gate width and comprises a second plurality of partitions.

On-chip checker for on-chip safety area

Disclosed herein is a single integrated circuit chip including main logic that operates a vehicle component such as a valve driver. Isolated from the main logic within the chip is a safety area that operates to verify proper operation of the main logic. A checker circuit within the chip outside of the safety area serves to verify proper operation of the checker circuit. The checker circuit receives signals from the safety circuit and uses combinatorial logic circuit to verify from those signals that the check circuit is operating properly.