RALF: Reliability Analysis for Logic Faults — An exact algorithm and its applications

Abstract

Reliability analysis for a logic circuit is one of the primary tasks in fault-tolerant logic synthesis. Given a fault model, it quantifies the impact of faults on the full-chip fault rate. We present RALF, an exact algorithm for calculating the reliability of a logic circuit. RALF is based on the compilation of a circuit to deterministic decomposable negation normal form (d-DNNF), a representation for Boolean formulas that can be more succinct than BDDs. Our algorithm can solve a large set of MCNC benchmark circuits within 5 minutes, enabling an optimality study of Monte Carlo simulation, a popular estimation method for reliability analysis, on real benchmark circuits. Our study shows that Monte Carlo simulation with a small set of random vectors generally has a high fidelity for the computation of full-chip fault rates and the criticality of single gates. While we focus on reliability analysis, RALF can also be used to efficiently locate random pattern resistant faults. This can be used to identify where methods other than random simulation should be used for accurate criticality calculations and where to enhance the testability of a circuit.

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