A novel and low-cost method to detect delay variation by dynamic thermal laser stimulation

Delay variation can be very difficult to localize in function failure analysis. In this paper we combine Delay Variation Mapping (DVM) and Soft Defect Localization (SDL) to develop a novel and low-cost method that can detect delay variation effectively. It just uses Static Thermal Laser Stimulation (S-TLS), Oscilloscope and Function Generator to compose a dynamic thermal laser stimulation (D-TLS) system. The methodology, system configuration and experimental results of this method are presented.