As CMOS technologies move to sub-100nm regions, the design and verification for analog/mixed-signal circuits become more and more difficult due to the problems including the decrease of transconductance, severe gate leakage and profound mismatches. The increasing manufacturing-induced process variations and their impacts on circuit performances make the already complex circuit design even more sophisticated in the deeply scaled CMOS technologies. Given these barriers, efforts are needed to ensure the circuits are robust and optimized with consideration of parametric variations. This research presents innovative computer-aided design approaches to address three such problems: (1) large analog/mixed-signal performance modeling under process variations, (2) yield-aware optimization for complex analog/mixedsignal systems and (3) on-chip test scheme development to detect and compensate parametric failures. The first problem focus on the efficient circuit performance evaluation with consideration of process variations which serves as the baseline for robust analog circuit design. We propose statistical performance modeling methods for two popular types of complex analog/mixed-signal circuits including Sigma-Delta ADCs and charge-pump PLLs. A more general performance modeling is achieved by employing a geostatistics motivated performance model (Kriging model), which is accurate and efficient for capturing stand-alone analog circuit block performances. Based on the generated block-level performance models, we can solve the more challenging problem of yield-aware system optimization for large analog/mixed-signal systems. Multi-yield pareto fronts are utilized in the hierarchical optimization framework so that the statistical optimal solutions can be achieved efficiently for the systems. We further look into on-chip design-for-test (DFT) circuits in analog systems and solve the problems of linearity test in ADCs and DFT scheme optimization in charge-pump PLLs. Finally a design example of digital intensive PLL is presented to illustrate the practical applications of the modeling, optimization and testing approaches for large analog/mixed-signal systems.

L'expansion du marché des semi-conducteurs dans tous les secteurs d'activité résulte de la capacité de créer de nouvelles applications grâce à l'intégration de plus en plus de fonctionnalités sur une surface de plus en plus faible. Pour chaque entreprise, la compétitivité dépend du coût de fabrication mais aussi de la fiabilité du produit. Ainsi, la phase de test d'un circuit intégré, et plus particulièrement des circuits analogiques et mixtes, est le facteur prédominant dans les choix d'un compromis entre ces deux critères antagonistes, car son coût est désormais proche du coût de production. Cette tendance contraint les acteurs du marché à mettre en place de nouvelles solutions moins onéreuses. Parmi les recherches dans ce domaine, la conception en vue du test (DfT) consiste à intégrer pendant le développement de la puce, une circuiterie additionnelle susceptible d'en faciliter le test, voire d'effectuer un auto-test (BIST). Mais la sélection d'une de ces techniques nécessite une évaluation de leur capacité de différencier les circuits fonctionnels des circuits défaillants. Ces travaux de recherche introduisent une méthodologie d'estimation de la qualité d'une DfT ou d'un BIST dans le flot de conception de circuits analogiques et mixtes. Basée sur la génération d'un large échantillon prenant en compte l'impact des variations d'un procédé technologique sur les performances et les mesures de test du circuit, cette méthodologie calcule les métriques de test exprimant la capacité de chaque technique de détecter les circuits défaillants sans rejeter des circuits fonctionnels et d'accepter les circuits fonctionnels en rejetant les circuits défaillant. Ensuite, le fonctionnement d'un auto-test numérique adapté aux convertisseurs sigma-delta est présenté ainsi qu'une nouvelle méthode de génération et d'injection du stimulus de test. La qualité de ces techniques d'auto-test est démontrée en utilisant la méthodologie d'estimation des métriques de test. Enfin, un démonstrateur développé sur un circuit programmable démontre la possibilité d'employer une technique d'auto-test dans un système de calibrage intégré. / The pervasiveness of the semiconductor industry in an increasing range of applications that span human activity stems from our ability to integrate more and more functionalities onto a small silicon area. The competitiveness in this industry, apart from product originality, is mainly defined by the manufacturing cost, as well as the product reliability. Therefore, finding a trade-off between these two often contradictory objectives is a major concern and calls for efficient test solutions. The focus nowadays is mainly on Analog and Mixed-Signal (AMS) circuits since the associated testing cost can amount up to 70% of the overall manufacturing cost despite that AMS circuits typically occupy no more than 20% of the die area. To this end, there are intensified efforts by the industry to develop more economical test solutions without sacrificing product quality. Design-for-Test (DfT) is a promising alternative to the standard test techniques. It consists of integrating during the development phase of the chip extra on-chip circuitry aiming to facilitate testing or even enable a built-in self-test (BIST). However, the adoption of a DFT technique requires a prior evaluation of its capability to distinguish the functional circuits from the defective ones. In this thesis, we present a novel methodology for estimating the quality of a DfT technique that is readily incorporated in the design flow of AMS circuits. Based on the generation of a large synthetic sample of circuits that takes into account the impact of the process ariations on the performances and test measurements, this methodology computes test metrics that determine whether the DFT technique is capable of rejecting defective devices while passing functional devices. In addition, the thesis proposes a novel, purely digital BIST technique for Sigma-Delta analog-to-digital converters. The efficiency of the test metrics evaluation methodology is demonstrated on this novel BIST technique. Finally, a hardware prototype developed on an FPGA shows the possibility of adapting the BIST technique within a calibration system.