1. Challenges and Opportunities in VLSI for Systems Dependability

This chapter describes the scope, activities, and results of a research program entitled, “Fundamental Technologies for Dependable VLSI Systems (DVLSI for short henceforth)” which began in 2007 and ended in 2015. The program, funded by JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) under the CREST (Core Research of Evolutional Science and Technology) initiative, consisted of 11 projects and addressed problems in dependability of electronic systems from various different angles. VLSI is a complex system in its own right and involves a number of potential hazards that arise internally from aging in elements or those that can be caused by external disturbances such as ionizing radiations. Coping with these phenomena has always been a challenge in semiconductor engineering and this program as well. Fabrics (physical structures) robust against threats, bit-error correction methods, and logic-level redundancies have been extensively studied. To go further, challenges of 3-D integration, chip-area (on-chip and across-chip) network, and wireless packaging have been taken on. Exploiting the potential of VLSI in solving problems in systems that call for hard real-time response and/or synchronicity as in robotics and wireless telecommunications has been addressed as new great opportunities for VLSIs. Advanced ways of verification and test for VLSIs have also been dealt with. We will begin this chapter by going over the background of VLSIs for electronic systems and reviewing the necessity of dependability. We will then describe how this multi-project program of CREST DVLSI was formed and conducted. The university-industry collaboration in goal-oriented management efforts is highlighted as essential. A summary of results obtained follows.