Boundary Cell Design: Reports & Metrics

Reports and metrics

Reports & Metrics for Boundary Cell Design focuses on boundary violation count, level-shifter coverage, clamp correctness. The goal is to connect observed symptom to boundary mechanism, ownership, and signoff risk.

Reports convert boundary violation count, level-shifter coverage, clamp correctness into release decisions. A single average metric is insufficient; use tails, mode breakdowns, and trend under controlled conditions.

Metric movement

METRIC GRAPH — boundary violation count, level-shifter coverage, clamp correctness

health / margin
  ^
  |                         target
  |                       - - - - - - -
  |                  o post-fix
  |              o
  |         o baseline
  |    o failing run
  +--------------------------------------> debug iteration
    repro setup    root-cause proof    release candidate

Readout:
  - compare only equivalent mode, payload, clock, and environment tags
  - separate symptom stabilization from true mechanism closure

Distribution view

METRIC DISTRIBUTION — Boundary Cell Design

occurrence
  |      ***
  |    *******
  |  ***********
  |*************  <- left tail (worst boundary excursions)
  +--------------------> margin / stability / error metric
  bad                 nominal

Fix the tail first; average value can hide integration escapes.

• Track boundary violation count, level-shifter coverage, clamp correctness by mode and stress condition.

• Report p95/p99 or worst-case tail when intermittent escapes matter.

• Store metric with exact artifact and configuration tags.

• Separate symptom stabilization from mechanism closure.

AMS deep dive

Boundary assumptions must be explicit, versioned, and testable.

Concept diagram

BOUNDARY CONTRACT FLOW

analog intent -> boundary implementation -> digital wrapper -> signed review

Metric graph

BOUNDARY RISK MIX

missing boundary cells    ███████
stale handoff assumptions ██████
silent mode changes       ████

Reports and artifacts

• boundary-cell coverage

• isolation/ESD review

• handoff contract checklist

• integration waiver log

Mini case study

Noise bursts traced to missing isolation clamp on one low-power transition mode.

Debug branches

• Validate boundary-cell insertion

• Diff handoff assumptions

• Reproduce with tagged mode sequence

Senior review question

Ask: what boundary condition proves this topic is actually closed?

Key takeaways

• State boundary, mode, and evidence tag with every claim.

• Always align analog, digital, and physical owners before signoff decisions.

Common pitfalls

• Fixing averages while tails still fail.

• Skipping package/supply evidence in jitter or SerDes issues.

• Shipping with waivers that lack owner and expiration criteria.

Reading reports