VLSI Reliability CAD

Computer aids have become increasingly more important in the design of VLSI circuits and systems. The complexity of circuit simulation increases rapidly as the circuit size of silicon VLSI increases, mainly because of drastic increases in computation time and memory space requirements. New approaches for time- and memory-efficient simulation are being investigated by using circuit partitioning, parallel simulation on multiple processors, and mixed-mode simulation techniques that exploit the differences in the rate of change in voltages among different subcircuits. New submicron VLSI reliability analysis with the focus on electromigration, oxide breakdown, electrical overstress, and hot-carrier effects. Experiments are carried out in the VLSI Reliability Laboratory. Detailed descriptions of individual research projects are also available.

Research Facility

Research projects are carried out in the Coordinated Science Laboratory (CSL) and the Beckman Institute. The group facilities in the Coordinated Science Laboratory include an HP-4145B parameter analyzer, HP-9134A hard disc, HP-9836C computer, 2 Sun UltraSparc workstations, 20 Sun SPARC workstations, 5 Sun 3/50 workstations, 6 Pentium and Pentium II PCs, and laser printers. The group facilities in the BEckman Institute include 5 Sun SPARC workstations, an HP superworkstation platform with 3 terminals, printers, and plotters. Besides these group facilities, group researchers have access to a Sequent multiprocessing computer, the Sun-4/280 fileserver in CSL, an Argent superminicomputer at Beckman Institute, a CRAY Y-MP, a CRAY 2, and a Connection Machine at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications on campus.

Faculty