Title :
Microprocessor entomology: a taxonomy of design faults in COTS microprocessors
Author :
Avizienis, Algirdas ; He, Yutao
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., California Univ., Los Angeles, CA, USA
Abstract :
The rapid increase of the complexity of high-performance COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) microprocessors has led to continuing post-design discoveries of numerous design faults, called “errata” by the manufacturers. This paper presents a systematic framework, the Design Fault Taxonomy, for the study of such design faults. Based on the proposed methodology, an in-depth analysis of design faults uncovered in the Intel Pentium II microprocessor since its initial release is presented in detail. The results raise concerns about the use of such processors in high-confidence systems and point to potential solutions
Keywords :
integrated circuit design; integrated circuit reliability; microprocessor chips; COTS microprocessors; Design Fault Taxonomy; Intel Pentium II microprocessor; circuit design faults; commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors; high-confidence systems; systematic framework; Computer science; Documentation; Error correction; Fault tolerance; Fault tolerant systems; Helium; Laboratories; Microprocessors; Microwave integrated circuits; Taxonomy;
Conference_Titel :
Dependable Computing for Critical Applications 7, 1999
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-0284-9
DOI :
10.1109/DCFTS.1999.814287
