Electronic Device and System Performance Evaluation, Testing and Simulation

Performance evaluation, testing and simulation form the backbone of modern electronic‐system design, ensuring that devices—from single transistors to complex heterogeneous assemblies—meet their functional, timing, thermal and reliability targets. Physical and device‐level simulators model charge flow, heat transport and failure mechanisms in semiconductors, driving optimised process recipes and layout rules. At the board and system levels, circuit‐ and network‐level environments emulate signal integrity, electromagnetic compatibility and real‐time behaviour under realistic workloads. Concurrently, design‐for‐testability (DFT) methods—such as scan chains, built‐in self-test (BIST) logic and on-chip pattern generators—provide structured access to internal nodes and support rapid fault isolation. Multi-objective exploration methods guide trade-offs among speed, power, thermal headroom and yield, returning Pareto-optimal design choices. Statistical and worst-case analyses predict ageing effects like bias-temperature instability and electromigration, while fault-injection and fault-simulation tools assess resilience and guide redundancy strategies. Collectively, these approaches reduce time-to-market, strengthen supply-chain confidence and underpin the dependable operation of systems in fields as diverse as automotive safety, medical instrumentation and data‐centre computing.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Research from all publishers

Thermal-aware fault-tolerance methods for through-silicon via (TSV) reliability dynamically reallocate redundant interconnects based on real-time hot-spot data, extending lifetime without prohibitive redundancy overhead. A holistic machine-learning framework applied to 3D NAND charge-trap layers accelerates optimization of spatial and energetic defect distributions, balancing programme/erase speed against retention and endurance in next-generation flash cells. Advances in built-in self-test (BIST) architectures integrate simultaneous detection of resistive-open and leakage faults in vertical interconnect arrays, achieving single-cycle classification and reducing test time and power in three-dimensional integrated circuits.

Electronic Device and System Performance Evaluation, Testing and Simulation publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electronic device and system performance evaluation, testing and simulation across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD): Physics-based simulators that model semiconductor device fabrication and operation to predict electrical and thermal characteristics.

Built-in Self-Test (BIST): On-chip circuitry enabling autonomous generation of test patterns and capture of responses without external testers.

Design-for-Testability (DFT): Methodologies—such as scan design and boundary-scan—that embed test paths and controllability into hardware to facilitate fault isolation.

Pareto Optimality: A state in multi-objective optimization where no single design can be improved in one metric without degrading another.

Bias Temperature Instability (BTI): Time- and temperature-driven threshold-voltage shift in MOSFETs due to charge trapping in gate dielectrics.

1/f Noise (Flicker Noise): Low-frequency fluctuation in current or voltage arising from trapping and detrapping of charge carriers in devices.

References

1. A TSV Test Method for Resistive Open Fault and Leakage Fault Coexisting. IEEE Access (2021).
2. A Thermal-Aware On-Line Fault Tolerance Method for TSV Lifetime Reliability in 3D-NoC Systems. IEEE Access (2020).
3. Holistic Optimization of Trap Distribution for Performance/Reliability in 3-D NAND Flash Using Machine Learning. IEEE Access (2023).