Transient fault sensitivity analysis of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs)

Reliability of systems used in space, avionic and biomedical applications is highly critical. Such systems consist of an analog front-end to collect data, an ADC to convert the collected data to digital form and a digital unit to process it. It is important to analyze the fault sensitivities of each of these to effectively gauge and improve the reliability of the system. This paper addresses the issue of fault sensitivity of ADCs. A generic methodology for analyzing the fault sensitivity of ADCs is presented. A novel concept of "node weights" specific to /spl alpha/-particle induced transient faults is introduced to increase the accuracy of such an analysis.