Title :
Quiescent current monitoring to improve the reliability of electronic systems in space radiation environments
Author :
Vargas, F. ; Nicolaidis, M. ; Courtois, B.
Author_Institution :
TIMA/INPG Lab., Grenoble, France
Abstract :
This paper presents a study of the behavior of a built-in current sensor (BICS) to be used for online concurrent error detection in circuits working in radiation-exposed environments. BIC sensors are used to monitor the power-bus static current of these circuits to detect excessive current consumption. This excessive static current consumption is compared to a predefined reference value in order to detect radiation-induced multiple parametric failures and system power supply breakdown. BIC sensors can also be affected by these faults and the reliability of the system can be lost. However, we show that the proposed current sensor is strongly code disjoint (SCD) with respect to the above faults and the system reliability is guaranteed
Keywords :
CMOS digital integrated circuits; VLSI; built-in self test; electric current measurement; error detection; fault diagnosis; integrated circuit reliability; radiation effects; space vehicle electronics; CMOS VLSI; built-in current sensor; online concurrent error detection; power-bus static current; radiation-exposed environments; radiation-induced multiple parametric failures; space radiation environments; system power supply breakdown; system reliability; Circuit faults; Circuit testing; Degradation; Leakage current; Power supplies; Radiation detectors; Radiation monitoring; Sensor systems; Threshold voltage; Very large scale integration;
Conference_Titel :
Computer Design: VLSI in Computers and Processors, 1993. ICCD '93. Proceedings., 1993 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Cambridge, MA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-4230-0
DOI :
10.1109/ICCD.1993.393307
