Abstract
We investigate correlations between SRAM cell defects and power supply current including I/sub DDQ/ (peak value of quiescent power supply current) and i/sub DDT/ (transient power supply current). Our results show that the power supply current can be used to detect cell shorts, cell opens, and disturb-type pattern sensitivity. We also investigate the effect of total current leakage in the power supply, which is proportional to SRAM size, on the power supply current detectability of SRAM cell defects. We present limits (obtained from simulation) on current detectability of SRAM cell defects as a function of normal power supply current leakage.