Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298

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Research note
Analog circuit fault diagnosis based on noise measurement
Yisong Dai*, Jiansheng Xu
Department of Electronics Engineering, Jilin University of Technology, Changchun 130025, People's Republic of China
Received 19 January 1999; received in revised form 6 March 1999

Abstract

In this paper, an analog circuit fault diagnosis method using a noise measurement and analysis approach is
suggested. Compared to the conventional circuit fault diagnosis methods, this method can discover hidden and early
circuit fault caused by the device defects. Since circuit fault diagnosis is more dicult than device-defect detection,
in this paper the circuit output noise calculation, the comparison between the normal and failure conditions and the
circuit fault diagnosis method have been discussed. Finally, an example of an active ®lter circuit fault diagnosis has
been given by using this method. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction been performed on devices as a sensitive indicator of

The conventional approach of fault diagnosis for an
analog electronic circuit is to measure the output vol-
tage at the output terminal, and to compare it with the
normal value obtained by circuit calculation [1]. There
are lot of methods suggested to solve the accuracy of
diagnosis results a€ected by the tolerance of networks,
such as the fault dictionary [2], nonlinear L1 optimiz-
ation algorithm [3], ramping power supply current sig-
nature clusters [4], etc.; however, these fault diagnosis
approaches are used only for the diagnosis of analog
circuits in hard fault conditions (such as open-circuit,
short-circuit, parameter change, etc.). They cannot
easily discover early or sudden circuit faults caused by
the hidden defects of circuit components.
It is well known that the excess noise of analog cir-
cuit is caused by surface or bulk defects in a transistor.
It is sensitive to hidden device defects and degradation
processes, so that the excess noise measurement has
* Corresponding author.
the quality and hence reliability of the electronic com-
ponent [5±7]. In comparision to the device parameter
measurement method, the bene®ts of the noise
measurement method are as follows:
1. The noise method can discover hidden device
defects, such as electromigration in Al-thin ®lms
interconnections in VLSI, slow surface states at the
silicon±silicon oxide interface, hot electron damage,
surface leakage channels, sodium ions, deep-level
impurities in bulk semiconductors, etc., so that this
method is not only a diagnostic tool for device qual-
ity, but also an estimate of the lifetime of electron
devices [8±10].
2. The increase in low frequency noise caused by
defects is signi®cantly stronger than the increase in
other circuit parameters. When the analog circuit is
in the early fault condition, the value of circuit par-
ameters never goes outside the manufacturer's speci-
®cations, however, the value of noise may have a
larger increase [11±14].

0026-2714/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 6 - 2 7 1 4 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 2 9 - 3
1294 Y. Dai, J. Xu / Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298
Fig. 1. The output noise calculation using the noise superposi-
tion theorem.
3. The noise measurement method does not need an
external exciting signal source. Hence, this method
is a non-destructive technique for fault diagnosis.
In this paper, we suggest that the noise measurement
method can be expanded to perform an analog circuit
fault diagnosis and hence a circuit reliability predica-
tion. Since the circuit output noise depends on the
device defects and the transfer function from every
device inside circuit to the output noise measurement
point, using this method we can discover both the fail-
ure device or other circuit parameters. However, the
circuit fault diagnosis is more dicult than the device
one. There are three problems which must be solved
and will be discussed in the following paragraphs:
1. How to calculate the accurate output noise value
and its tolerance in complex analog circuit.
2. After the output noise spectrum of an analog circuit
has been measured, how to compare the noise
measurement value with the normal calculation
value and to decide if the circuit is a failure.
3. If circuit is a failure, how to diagnose and locate the
failure circuit component from the noise measure-
ment results.
2. Circuit noise calculation using the noise superposition
theorem
As mentioned above, the accurate output noise spec-
trum must be calculated for analog circuit fault diagno-
sis. The noise superposition theorem is the fundamental
theorem in linear circuit analysis. Using this theorem,
we can obtain the noise contribution of every noise
source inside circuit. The conventional noise power
superposition method is to calculate the noise power at
the measurement point of the sum of the noise power
of the individual noise source. However, the de®ciencies
of this method are that the correlation between noise
sources cannot be considered and this can introduce
30% calculation errors [14]. Next, we must know the
accurate value of every noise source inside the device,
which is dicult particularly in the low frequency
region. In this paper, we introduce an improved noise
spectrum superposition theory as follows.
The noise in a linear circuit is caused by two kinds
of components, i.e., resistors and semiconductors
(BJTs, MOSFET, and OP ampli®er), The noise of a
passive sub-network can be replaced by input noise
voltage source or current source in series with a one-
port noiseless sub-network. The noise of a semiconduc-
tor can be represented by input noise voltage source
and current source in series with a two-port noiseless
sub-network. Fig. 1 shows the noise sources in a linear
circuit. For simplicity, only one impedance and one
…n†
semiconductor are shown, where E_ j is the n order
random harmonic component of thermal noise voltage
…n† …n†
ej of jth impedance Zj
E_ m and I_m is the n order ran-
dom harmonic component of noise voltage and current
of the em ÿ im noise model of mth semiconductor. The
n order random harmonic component of output noise
voltage can be written as [15],
…n† …n†
_ …n†
U_ o ˆ K ju … f †E_ j ‡ K m m …n†
u … f †E m ‡ K i … f †I m …1†
where K ju … f †,K m m
u … f †,K i … f † is the transfer function
…n† …n† …n† …n†
from E_ j ,E_ m ,I_m to the output voltage U_ o , respect-
…n† …n† …n†
ively. Since the noise sources E_ and E_ , I_ are non
j m m
correlative, according to Ref. [16], the noise spectrum
of the output noise voltage can be written as
…n† …n†
Suo … f † ˆ lim 2TU_ o U_ o
T4x
ˆ Sej … f †jK ju … f †j2 ‡ Sem … f †jK m 2
u … f †j
‡ Sim … f †jK m
i … f †j
2
 
‡ 2Re K m _m
u … f †K i … f †Sem im … f †
where Sej … f † is the noise spectrum of thermal noise ej
in jth impedance Zj , i.e., Sej … f † ˆ 4kTRe…Zj †
Sem … f †
and Sim … f † are the noise spectra of the voltage noise
em and the current noise im of mth semiconductor,
Sem im … f † is the cross spectrum of em and im , these
noise spectra can be calculated only in the medium fre-
quency range. At low frequency they must be obtained
by measurement [17]. If there are p impedances and q
 Y. Dai, J. Xu / Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298 1295

Fig. 2. The diagram of circuit: (a) the active ®lter circuit and (b) the En ÿ In noise model of operation ampli®er Op-27.

semiconductors, the noise superposition theorem at the To simplify the calculation, all transfer functions
output terminal of a linear circuit can be written as from every noise source to the output terminal and the
overall noise contribution of all impedances in the cir-
X
p
cuit can be calculated directly by Pspice program.
Suo … f † ˆ Sej … f †jK ju … f †j2
jˆ1
However, the noise contribution of every semiconduc-
X
q ÿ tor must be calculated using Eq. (2), because the En ÿ


‡ Sem … f †jK m 2 m
u … f †j ‡ Sim … f †jK i … f †j
2 In noise model of a semiconductor must be obtained
mˆ1 by the noise measurement setup.
Xq
ÿ
If the analog circuit consists of an interconnection
‡ 2Re K m m
u … f †K i … f †Sem im … f † of a two-port network, we can use the noise matrix
mˆ1
superposition expression to simplify the noise calcu-
Since the correlation term Sem im …f † between em and im lation. More details can be found in Ref. [15,16].
is included in Eq. (2), comparing with the conventional
noise power superposition method, Eq. (2) is more cor-
rect. If the correlation term Sem im …f † between em and im
is negligible, Eq. (2) is equal to the conventional noise 3. Analog circuit fault diagnosis by noise measurement
power superposition, i.e., the noise power at the
measurement point is the sum of the noise power of The noise measurement method used to diagnose the
the individual noise source. analog circuit fault is executed as follows:
1296 Y. Dai, J. Xu / Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298

Table 1
Noise models of Op-27

f En1 En2 In1 In2 g10 g20 g100 g200

p p p p
(Hz) (nV/ Hz) (nV/ Hz) (pA/ Hz) (pA/ Hz)

1 20.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 0.90 0.90 0.00 0.00

10 8.00 8.00 10.00 6.00 0.80 0.80 ÿ0.04 0.00
100 3.00 3.00 4.00 2.00 0.50 0.60 ÿ0.10 ÿ0.06
1K 2.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 0.24 0.20 ÿ0.30 ÿ0.35
10K 3.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.18 0.18 ÿ0.50 ÿ0.54
100K 4.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 0.28 0.20 ÿ0.62 ÿ0.58
1M 5.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 0.35 0.25 ÿ0.75 ÿ0.62

Step 1 The noise spectrum at the output terminal

of an analog circuit must be calculated ®rst.
Since the output noise spectrum is derived
from the noise sources of all the circuit
components and the transfer function from
every electronic component to the output
terminal, for correct diagnosis and location
of the failure components we must select
several measurement points as the output
terminals.During the noise calculation, the
noise spectrum of an impedance can use its
theoretical value 4kTRe…Z †. However, the
measured noise spectrum value of semicon-
ductors are not identical to each other, even
if they are one type of transistor. As a con-
sequence, we must measure a lot of one
type of transistor, then the average noise
values (En ,In and their complex correlative
coecient g1 ‡ jg2 ) are used to calculate the
normal output noise and the tolerance of
the noise values which is used to estimate
the deviation of the normal output noise
values.
Step 2 After the output noise value of the analog
circuit in the normal condition has been cal-
culated, we must measure the output noise
value of the failed circuit at the output
terminal. If the deviation of the measured
output noise from the normal value is larger
than the tolerance of the normal noise
value, we can conclude that this analog cir-
cuit has failed.During the noise measurement
and calculation, it is important that the
input signal source of the analog circuit is Fig. 3. The output noise spectrum of active ®lter circuit: (a)
removed and replaced by an impedance. The the normal output noise spectrum and its tolerance by noise
noise measurement setup and approach can calculation method and (b) the output noise spectrum of fault
be found in Ref. [17]. circuit by noise measurement method.
 Y. Dai, J. Xu / Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298
Fig. 4. The analog circuit fault diagnosis: (a) the noise spec-
trum of the ®rst stage of active ®lter circuit 1 and (b) the
noise spectrum of the second stage of active ®lter circuit 2.
Step 3 Since only a few output terminals of a circuit
are available to make noise measurements,
the fault circuit component usually cannot be
diagnosed and located using the output noise
value. Hence, we must further measure and
analyze the noise spectrum caused by select-
ing only parts of the circuit until the correct
diagnosis and location of the failure circuit
component is obtained. Of course, the sub-
network must be simple and easy to perform
the noise measurement and calculation.
As an example of analog circuit fault diagnosis, the
block diagram of a circuit is shown in Fig. 2(a). The
noise model of Op ampli®er (Op-27) is shown in Fig.
2(b).
After a large number of Op-27 have been measured,
the average noise values (En1 ,En2 ,In1 ,In2 and their com-
1297
plex correlative coecient g1 and g2 ) are shown in
Table 1. The tolerance of the noise values is about
10%. Before diagnosing the circuit fault, we must cal-
culate the normal output noise spectrum of this circuit
and its tolerance, according to the average voltage and
current noise model and their tolerance of OP-27
shown in Table 1. Input terminal 1±6 is shunted. Since
this circuit consists of two-port networks, the output
noise spectrum is calculated by noise matrix approach
[16]. The output noise spectrum curves are shown in
Fig. 3(a), where the solid line denotes the average
noise spectrum and the dotted line denotes the toler-
ance of the output noise spectrum. In Fig. 3(b) curves
1 and 2 show the output noise spectra of the faulty cir-
cuits 1 and 2. Comparing with the normal noise spec-
trum shown in Fig. 3(a), we can conclude that the two
sample circuits are failures.
According to Step 3, for diagnosing and locating the
faulty component, we must measure the output noise
of each operational ampli®er. Let the input terminal
7±6 of the faulty circuit 1 be shunted and point 3
opened. The noise spectrum at the output terminal 2±6
is measured. The measured noise spectrum curve 1 is
shown in Fig. 4(a).
We ®nd that the noise spectrum of the ®rst stage of
the fault circuit 1 is non-identical with the normal cal-
culation value shown in Fig. 4(a) curve 2, hence it can
be diagnosed that the capacitance C1 in ®rst stage of
the fault circuit 1 is open circuit. Next, let the input
terminal 2±6 of the fault circuit 2 be shunted. The
noise spectrum at the output terminal 3±6 is measured.
The measured noise spectrum curve 1 is shown in Fig.
4(b). We ®nd that the noise spectrum of the second
stage of the fault circuit 2 is non-identical with the
normal calculation value shown in Fig. 4(b) curve 2,
hence it can be diagnosed that the Op-27 in the second
stage of the fault circuit 2 has serious defects which
may cause the circuit transfer fault.
If the operational ampli®ers in an analog circuit can-
not be disconnected or shunted, such as ICs in a chip
or a printing board, the noise diagnosis method may
be executed by selecting several external and internal
noise measurement points. In this case the output
noise spectra is the sum of the overall noise contri-
bution of several devices in the circuit, the noise spec-
trum of every device in an analog circuit must be
determined by solving Eq. (2), of course it will be
more complex.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, the noise measurement technique has
been expanded from the transistor quality and re-
liability estimation to the analog circuit fault diagnosis.
Since the circuit fault diagnosis is more dicult than
1298 Y. Dai, J. Xu / Microelectronics Reliability 39 (1999) 1293±1298
the transistor one, three problems have been discussed
in this paper:
[6]
1. A noise spectrum superposition theory has been
developed for calculating the output noise value of
a complex analog circuit. Since the correct En ÿ In [7]
noise model of each transistor in the circuit is
obtained by a noise measurement setup, this method
can obtain the correct output noise spectrum. [8]
2. Through the output noise measurement of the ana-
log circuit, if the output noise spectrum deviation
[9]
from the normal value is larger than tolerance of
the normal noise value, we may conclude that this
analog circuit is a failure. [10]
3. For diagnosing and locating the failure component
of the analog circuit, we must select several output
noise measurement terminals or only parts of circuit [11]
to perform noise measurements and comparisons
until the correct diagnosis and location of the failure
component is obtained.
[12]
[13]
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