Design of a Microprogram Control Unit with Concurrent Error Detection

摘要

This paper presents an integrated approach to the design of a microprogram control unit (MCU) with concurrent error detection (CED) capability for errors generated by VLSI physical failures. The paper first presents the design of a single-chip MCU that comprehensively detects errors due to internal physical failures during its normal operation. The AM2910 microprogram sequencer is used as a functional model for the CED MCU. Lastly, the paper presents a critical evaluation of the actual mask-level layout of the CED MCU design versus a simplex MCU without CED and a CED MCU through duplication and comparison. (Author)