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Task mapping strategies on NoC (Network-on-Chip) have a huge impact on the timing performance and power consumption. So does the topology. In this paper, we describe the exploration flow of task mapping algorithms using different NoC mesh shapes. The flow is used to evaluate timing and energy consumption based on a NoC emulation platform. It is open to any task mapping algorithms and to any shapes of NoC mesh. A heterogeneous (PC and FPGA) platform is used to fully perform each step of the flow. The experiments demonstrate that the most appropriate task mapping strategy and the most suitable NoC shape strongly depend on the algorithm used. Depending on the timing latency results obtained and the FPGA resources used, the designer can select the appropriate task mapping strategy on the suitable shape in a short exploration time and with precise timing evaluation.

Failure analysis on advanced logic and mixed-mode analog ICs more and more has to deal with so called ‘soft defects’. In this paper, a dynamic synchronization method is proposed to perform soft defect localization (SDL) technique by Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (OBIRCH). It is a new and low-cost way to achieve SDL technique by OBIRCH equipment if there is no normal SDL equipment on hand. It extends the application of OBIRCH equipment to a more advanced failure analysis realm. The methodology and system configuration are presented. The experimental results show this dynamic synchronization method is accurate enough to locate a soft defect. Two real cases are studied on a digital IC and a mixed-mode analog IC respectively using this method.

A time error mathematical model is proposed to study the impact of nonlinear response and noises on imaging of time-based Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) pixel with the Correlated Double Sampling (CDS). The errors introduced by nonlinearity and certain noises, including fixed pattern noise (FPN), reset noise, shot noise and input-referred noise of pixel-level comparator, are studied. The relative error is impacted not only by the noise voltage, but also the comparator reference voltages, V refh and V refl . In the 0.18 μm CMOS process, the simulation result shows that the noises which have the largest impact on imaging are FPN and shot noise. The higher the V refh and V refl are, the smaller the error is introduced by FPN. The larger the difference between V refh and V refl is, the better the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is. The influence of reference voltage and clock frequency on dynamic range, and the trade-off between dynamic range and speed are also analyzed in this paper. Finally, the rules of reference voltage selection are discussed. The results can serve as a guideline to the design of the time-based PWM pixel with CDS.

A statistical model based on large sample simulation is established to study the relationship between random telegraph signal (RTS) noise and the number of time delay integration (TDI) stages in TDI CMOS image sensor (CIS). Matlab simulation results show that the mean value of RTS noise increases by a factor greater than M 0.5 when the number of TDI stages is M , and the factor approximates to M 0.5 with larger TDI stages. In noise histogram, RTS noise exhibits Gaussian distribution when the number of TDI stages is more than a special value. These results serve as a guideline for the design of TDI stages and the analysis of noise.

The surface acoustic waves (SAWs) technique is becoming an attractive tool for accurately and nondestructively characterizing the mechanical property of the fragile low dielectric constant (low- k ) thin film used in the advanced ULSI multi-layer interconnects. The dispersion features of SAWs propagating on the layered structure of low- k /SiO 2 /Si substrate and low- k /Cu/Si substrate are investigated in detail. The influence of the film thickness on the dispersion curvature is provided as an instruction for an accurate and facile fitting process. Numerical results indicate that the mechanical property of low- k films is expected to determine effectively when the broadband frequency is up to 300 MHz.