Low-cost gate-oxide early-life failure detection in robust systems

We present a new low-cost technique for detecting gate-oxide early-life failures (ELF) to overcome reliability challenges in robust systems without requiring expensive concurrent error detection. Our approach is enabled by an on-chip clock control technique, applied during periodic on-line self-test and diagnostics, to detect delay shifts over time before functional failures occur. Using 90 nm test chips, we demonstrate the following key results: 1. A gate-oxide ELF transistor inside a combinational logic circuit results in delay shifts over time before functional failures appear. 2. The delay shifts can be successfully detected during on-line self-test and diagnostics using our on-chip clock control technique.