VLSI: An investigation into electromagnetic signatures (EMS) for non-invasive testing and signal-integrity verification

The complexity and increasing operation frequencies of the components of highly complexity of VLSI circuits, coupled with the inaccessibility of components, different clock regimes, and the huge increase in the number of test patterns and protocols required for efficient functional verification with the subsequent increase in power consumption, have aggravated the test problem. As the variety of testability required within a chip increases with chip complexity, non-invasive tests that need no special structures and allow for a process to be implemented independently of IC normal operation and operating frequency would make an attractive testing scheme. The pattern of changes of the EM field of an IC cause by on-chip interconnect parasitic coupling could be mapped as electromagnetic signatures (EMS) for testing and signal-integrity verification of VLSI circuits and systems.