The other side of the timing equation: a result of clock faults

We analyze the impact of clock faults on product quality and operation in the field. We show that clock faults could: i) give rise to min delay violations; ii) compromise the effectiveness of delay fault testing in screening out possible delay faults; iii) be missed by current functional testing (in addition to possibly be missed by structural testing, as proven by Metra et al. (2004). Therefore, new testing/DFT approaches are needed to avoid the dramatic impact of clock faults on product quality and operation in the field. Various possible approaches are discussed.