Workshop on Failure and Uncertainty in Mixed-Signal Circuits and Systems, July 8-9, 2010 Arlington, VA

本次研讨会的目的是探索和确定在抗故障电子混合信号电路和系统设计领域的关键研究挑战。该领域对确保健康相关、交通运输、高性能计算和自我可持续能源系统的持续和提高可靠性感兴趣。可靠性降低的一个原因是随着集成电路特征尺寸的减小，器件故障的可能性增加。然而，随着模拟电路和组件作为系统的一部分以及3d集成密度的增加，其他可靠性问题也随之出现。除了器件可靠性降低和参数不确定性增加的问题外，密集集成的元件、电路、封装和子系统之间的复杂耦合往往过于复杂而无法在设计中充分考虑。这些系统的故障不是传统的通过/不通过的性质，可能是由设计错误（或糟糕的设计）或操作条件引起的。相反，对于混合信号组件以及应用级别的系统，更关注的是优雅的降级，从瞬态和永久错误中恢复，以及系统级别的鲁棒行为。这表明，为了向系统用户提供可靠性，必须采用包含所有设计层次的集成方法。本次研讨会将汇集混合信号电路和系统设计、仿真和测试等相关领域的专家。讲习班将评估在医疗、运输和航空航天应用等安全关键领域确保抗故障能力的研究需求。

The objective of this workshop is to explore and identify the critical research challenges in the area of the design of failure-resistant electronic mixed-signal circuits and systems. This area is of interest to insure sustained and increased reliability in health-related, transportation, high performance computing, and self-sustainable energy systems. One cause of reduced reliability is the increasing probability of device failure as feature sizes of integrated circuits are reduced. However, with the increased presence of analog circuits and components as parts of systems as well as the increased 3-D integration density, other reliability concerns arise. Besides the problem of reduced device reliability and increased parameter uncertainty, the complicated coupling between densely integrated components, circuits, packaging and sub-systems is often too complex to be fully considered in the design. Failure of such systems is not of the traditional pass/fail nature and might be caused by either design errors (or poor designs) or operational conditions. Instead, for mixed-signal components as well as for systems at the application level, there is more concern with graceful degradation, recovery from transient and permanent errors, and robust behavior at the system level. This suggests that an integrated approach incorporating all levels of the design hierarchy is necessary to provide reliability to the system user. This workshop will bring together a select group of experts in the relevant fields of mixed-signal circuit and system design, simulation, and testing. The workshop will assess research needs for ensuring resistance to failure in safety-critical areas including medical, transportation, and aerospace applications.