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Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits

Publication ,  Conference
Li, X; Rutenbar, RR; Blanton, RD
Published in: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD
December 1, 2009

In this paper, we propose a new technique, referred to as virtual probe (VP), to efficiently measure, characterize and monitor both inter-die and spatially-correlated intra-die variations in nanoscale manufacturing process. VP exploits recent breakthroughs in compressed sensing [15]-[17] to accurately predict spatial variations from an exceptionally small set of measurement data, thereby reducing the cost of silicon characterization. By exploring the underlying sparse structure in (spatial) frequency domain, VP achieves substantially lower sampling frequency than the wellknown (spatial) Nyquist rate. In addition, VP is formulated as a linear programming problem and, therefore, can be solved both robustly and efficiently. Our industrial measurement data demonstrate that by testing the delay of just 50 chips on a wafer, VP accurately predicts the delay of the other 219 chips on the same wafer. In this example, VP reduces the estimation error by up to 10× compared to other traditional methods. Copyright 2009 ACM.

Duke Scholars

Published In

IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD

ISSN

1092-3152

ISBN

9781605588001

Publication Date

December 1, 2009

Start / End Page

433 / 440
 

Citation

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MLA
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Li, X., Rutenbar, R. R., & Blanton, R. D. (2009). Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits. In IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD (pp. 433–440).
Li, X., R. R. Rutenbar, and R. D. Blanton. “Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits.” In IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD, 433–40, 2009.
Li X, Rutenbar RR, Blanton RD. Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits. In: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD. 2009. p. 433–40.
Li, X., et al. “Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits.” IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD, 2009, pp. 433–40.
Li X, Rutenbar RR, Blanton RD. Virtual probe: A statistically optimal framework for minimum-cost silicon characterization of nanoscale integrated circuits. IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD. 2009. p. 433–440.

Published In

IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD

ISSN

1092-3152

ISBN

9781605588001

Publication Date

December 1, 2009

Start / End Page

433 / 440