Circuit failure prediction to overcome scaled CMOS reliability challenges

Circuit failure prediction predicts the occurrence of a circuit failure before errors actually appear in system data and states. This is in contrast to traditional error detection where a failure is detected after errors appear in system data and states. Circuit failure prediction can be performed in multiple ways -the basic principle is to insert a wide variety of "sensors" at various locations inside a chip. These sensors collect information about various system parameters over time concurrently during normal system operation or during periodic on-line self-test.