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T. Polzer, A. Steininger:
"Measuring the Distribution of Metastable Upsets over Time";
Vortrag: 18th Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design, Funchal, Portugal; 26.08.2015 - 28.08.2015; in: "Measuring the Distribution of Metastable Upsets over Time", (2015), 8 S.

As modern ASICs comprise an increasing number
of independently clocked subsystems that need to interact,
the accurate reliability assessment of synchronizers becomes
crucial. Traditionally the reliability of a synchronizer is characterized
by the mean time between upsets (MTBU), and the
relevant flip-flop parameters are specified in a way to support
MTBU calculation.
In this paper we claim that actually a deeper insight into
the distribution of upsets over time is needed in order to make
a reasonable prediction in the range of the high reliability
values that are generally targeted. We present a measurement
concept that appropriately extends state-of-the-art approaches
so as to allow for an experimental assessment of the upset
distribution over time. In this way the distribution function
can be studied, and in particular the probability of upsets
with low temporal distance - which is the relevant one for
high reliability - can be identified. We implement our concept
on three different FPGA platforms and present the selected
results. The distribution function we obtain indicates that the
assumption of a uniform or standard normal distribution,
which one might be tempted to imply for lack of better
information, is definitely not generally useful.