Fault Classification in Phase-Locked Loops Using Back Propagation Neural Networks

Phase-locked loops (PLLs) are among the most important mixed-signal building blocks of modern communication and control circuits, where they are used for frequency and phase synchronization, modulation, and demodulation as well as frequency synthesis. The growing popularity of PLLs has increased the need to test these devices during prototyping and production. The problem of distinguishing and classifying the responses of analog integrated circuits containing catastrophic faults has aroused recent interest. This is because most analog and mixed signal circuits are tested by their functionality, which is both time consuming and expensive. The problem is made more difficult when parametric variations are taken into account. Hence, statistical methods and techniques can be employed to automate fault classification. As a possible solution, we use the back propagation neural network (BPNN) to classify the faults in the designed charge-pump PLL. In order to classify the faults, the BPNN was trained with various training algorithms and their performance for the test structure was analyzed. The proposed method of fault classification gave fault coverage of 99.58%.