Analog test metrics estimates with PPM accuracy

The high cost of analog circuit testing has sparked off intensified efforts to identify robust and low-cost alternative tests that could effectively replace the standard specification-based tests. Nevertheless, the current practice is still specification-based testing. One of the primary reasons is the lack of tools to evaluate in advance the indirect costs (e.g. parametric test escape and yield loss) associated with alternative tests. To this end, in this paper, we present a method to estimate test escape and yield loss that occur as a result of replacing one costly specification test by one low-cost alternative test. This evaluation is performed at the design or test development stage with parts per million (PPM) accuracy. The method is based on extreme value theory and on a fast simulation technique of extreme events called statistical blockade.