Embodiments of the disclosure relate to a method of analyzing the reliability of a semiconductor circuit, and more particularly, to a method of predicting the failure rate of a circuit, thereby reducing simulation time.
With the increase of scaling and variation in semiconductor circuit processes, a reliability margin is decreasing. Accordingly, it is important to analyze various types of reliability parameters and design a circuit based on the analysis during circuit design. For instance, it is necessary to perform a reliability simulation during circuit design in order to reduce risks after the circuit is manufactured and to meet standard requirements so that a circuit is designed to conform to the standard. Simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) is a representative of simulation programs for electronic circuits.
Reliability simulations using SPICE are performed with regard to the area, operating voltage and temperature of every transistor in a circuit. At this time, the simulation takes a long time.