In integrated circuit design, a critical area is a section of a circuit design wherein a particle of a particular size can cause a failure. It measures the sensitivity of the circuit to a reduction in yield. The critical area ( A c ) {\textstyle (A_{c})} on a single layer integrated circuit design is given by:
A c = ∫ 0 ∞ A ( r ) D ( r ) d r {\displaystyle A_{c}=\int _{0}^{\infty }A(r)D(r)dr}
where A ( r ) {\displaystyle A(r)} is the area in which a defect of radius r {\displaystyle r} will cause a failure, and D ( r ) {\displaystyle D(r)} is the density function of the defect.
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