In the electronic systems

the failure of a module or circuit often results in catastrophic consequences.The failure of these modules or circuits is mostly caused by device failure mechanisms

including TDDB (time dependent dielectric breakdown)

hot carrier injection

negative bias temperature instability

etc.This paper presents an on-chip real-time prediction circuit and method for TDDB.When the circuit under test is failure due to TDDB

the prediction circuit is capable of issuing a warning signal.The prediction circuit

designed by a standard CMOS process

occupies a small silicon area and does not share any signal with the circuits under test

therefore

the possibility of interference with the surrounding circuits is safely excluded.The circuit is taped out in 0.18 micron process

and its performance is met the design requirements.