First Advisor

W. Robert Daasch

Date of Publication

Winter 2-27-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Language

English

Subjects

Fault tolerance (Engineering), Asynchronous circuits

DOI

10.15760/etd.5359

Physical Description

1 online resource (viii, 53 pages)

Abstract

As device scaling continues, process variability and defect densities are becoming increasingly challenging for circuit designers to contend with. Variability reduces timing margins, making it difficult and time consuming to meet design specifications. Defects can cause degraded performance or incorrect operation resulting in circuit failure. Consequently test times are lengthened and production yields are reduced.

This work assess the combination of two concepts, self-timed asynchronous design and fault tolerance, as a possible solution to both variability and defects. Asynchronous design is not as sensitive to variability as synchronous, while fault tolerance allows continued functional operation in the presence of defects.

GasP is a self-timed asynchronous design that provides high performance in a simple circuit. Quadded Logic, is a gate level fault tolerant methodology. This study presents Quadded GasP, a fault tolerant asynchronous design.

This work demonstrates that Quadded GasP circuits continue to function within performance expectations when faults are present. The increased area and reduced performance costs of Quadded GasP area also evaluated.

These results show Quadded GasP circuits are a viable option for managing process variation and defects. Application of these circuits will provide decreased development and test times, as well as increased yield.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19599

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