Noise spikes in digital VLSI circuits

An analysis is presented of the appearance of occasional noise spikes in very complex VLSI circuits. The noise spikes may cause so-called soft errors if the operating frequency is high and the variations in channel resistance large. The main contributing noise source is capacitive and inductive crosstalk. Noise spikes in present-day circuits are about an order of magnitude smaller than spikes caused by radioactive decay of trace elements in the encapsulation, and by cosmic rays. Fault-tolerant circuit design reducing the influence of radioactive and cosmic ray bombardment will help against noise spikes as well. A comparison is made with noise spikes in neurons.