Advanced LIVA/TIVA Techniques

LIVA (L ight I nduced V oltage A lterations) and TIVA (T hermally I nduced V oltage A lterations) have demonstrated significant capability for fault isolation. A difficulty with both techniques is their use of a constant current source, whereas integrated circuits operate with a constant voltage source. A new technique that utilizes the constant current sensing of LIVA/TIVA, while allowing for use of constant voltage bias on the integrated circuit, has been developed. As a bonus, the technique is also significantly more sensitive (at least one order of magnitude) than the standard LIVA/TIVA approach.