High-level crosstalk defect simulation methodology for system-on-chip interconnects

For system-on-chips (SoC) using nanometer technologies, buses and long interconnects are susceptible to crosstalk defects that may lead to functional and timing failures. Testing for crosstalk defects is becoming important to ensure error-free operation of an SoC. To efficiently evaluate crosstalk-defect coverage of existing tests and facilitate the development of new crosstalk test methodologies, effective crosstalk-defect coverage-analysis techniques are needed. In this paper, we present an efficient high-level crosstalk-defect simulation methodology for interconnects dominated by capacitive coupling effects. A novel coupling defect-simulation model was developed and implemented in hardware description languages. The high-level crosstalk-defect simulation methodology was examined by SPICE simulations. Experimental results show the crosstalk defect simulation methodology efficiently provides high-fidelity defect-coverage results. The proposed methodology enables fast exploration and evaluation of different tests, leading to high-quality, low-cost manufacturing tests for crosstalk-induced ac failures.