Fault characterization, testing considerations, and design fortestability of BiCMOS logic circuits

The results of a simulation-based fault characterization study of BiCMOS logic circuits are given. Based on the fault characterization results, the authors have studied different techniques for testing BiCMOS logic circuits. The effectiveness of stuck-at fault testing, stuck-open fault testing, delay fault testing, and current testing in achieving a high level of defect coverage is studied. A novel BiCMOS circuit structure that improves the testability of BiCMOS digital circuits is presented     

Delay fault simulation of sequential circuits

This article proposes a 7-valued logic appropriate for test generation and fault simulation, in the area of robust tests for gate delay faults, and a straightforward simulation strategy for sequential circuits. It is shown that a purely qualitative logic of robust testing is inadequate for circuits with edge-triggered flip-flops. The relation between the 7-valued logic and the similar logic proposed before by Smith, Schulz et al., and Lin and Reddy are discussed.     

一阶布尔差分在组合逻辑电路测试生成中的应用

文章给出了一阶布尔差分的几种求法,并对这几种方法进行了分析、比较,进而通过具体逻辑电路阐述如何用布尔差分及其性质迅速求出逻辑电路的单故障测试集。     

新型铁电不挥发性逻辑电路的分析和实现

提出了一种利用与CMOS工艺相容的铁电薄膜来实现使一般逻辑电路成为非挥发性的新技术.通过电路模拟及对锁存器和触发器实验电路进行测试,表明逻辑集成电路的铁电锁存新技术是切实可行的.     

Circuit internal logic analysis with electric force microscope- (EFM-) testing

In this paper the well known electron beam testing techniques stroboscopic voltage contrast and logic state mapping are realized for an EFM-testing system. These testing techniques allow an advanced logic analysis of digital circuits. They are based on a linear interaction, a pulse sampled measurement method and a scanned EFM-tip. First measurement results are shown on an integrated bus structure of 2 μm feature size with applied clock signals at few megahertz frequencies pointing out the ability for simultaneous temporal and spatial frequency measurements with EFM-testing, as well. Further improvements promise the applicability of these proven testing techniques in integrated circuits with structure dimensions beyond the limits of electron beam testers.     

Efficient Path Delay Test Generation for Custom Designs

Due to the rapidly growing complexity of VLSI circuits, test methodologies based on delay testing become popular. However, most approaches cannot handle custom logic blocks which are described by logic functions rather than by circuit primitive elements. To overcome this problem, a new path delay test generation algorithm is developed for custom designs. The results using benchmark circuits and real designs prove the efficiency of the new algorithm. The new test generation algorithm can be applied to designs employing intellectual property (IP) circuits whose implementation details are either unknown or unavailable.     

Highly testable design of BiCMOS logic circuits

Most of the work reported in the literature to date on the testability of BiCMOS circuits has concentrated on fault characterization and the need for a suitable testing method that can address the peculiarities of BiCMOS circuits. The problem of adequately testing large BiCMOS logic networks remains open and complex. In this paper, we introduce a new design for testability technique for BiCMOS logic gates that results in highly testable BiCMOS logic circuits. The proposed design incorporates two features: a test charge/discharge path and built-in current sensing (BICS). The test charge/discharge path is activated only during testing and facilitates the testing of stuck-open faults using single test vectors. BICS facilitates testing of faults that cause excessive IDDQ. HSPICE simulation results show that the proposed design can detect stuck-open faults at a test speed of 10 MHz. Faults causing excessive IDDQ are detected by BICS with a detection time of 1 ns and a settling time of 2 ns. Impact of the proposed design on normal operation is minimal. The increase in propagation delay in normal operation is less than 3%. This compares very favorably with CMOS BICS reported in the literature, where the propagation delay increase was 20%, 14.4% respectively. The increase in the area is less than 15%     

Power rail logic: a low power logic style for digital GaAs circuits

This paper describes a new logic style called Power Rail Logic (PRL), which is compatible with direct-coupled FET logic (DCFL) circuits. Multiplexors, latches, flip-flops, and exclusive-OR gates can be built using this logic style. Compared to DCFL, PRL uses fewer transistors, has larger noise margins, and up to 40% lower power-delay products. A test chip containing 32-b barrel shifters designed in DCFL and in PRL was successfully fabricated and tested. Test results are given for both circuits     

Built-in test for complex digital integrated circuits

A method for testing the logic function of complex digital integrated circuits is presented. The extra hardware needed is kept minimal by functional conversion of already existing components (e.g., registers). The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated by results from both hardware simulation and logic simulation. The method is based on an adapted version of signature analysis, and on circuit partitioning (the structure of VLSI circuits is assumed to be inherently modular).     

Low-power logic styles: CMOS versus pass-transistor logic

Recently reported logic style comparisons based on full-adder circuits claimed complementary pass-transistor logic (CPL) to be much more power-efficient than complementary CMOS. However, new comparisons performed on more efficient CMOS circuit realizations and a wider range of different logic cells, as well as the use of realistic circuit arrangements demonstrate CMOS to be superior to CPL in most cases with respect to speed, area, power dissipation, and power-delay products. An implemented 32-b adder using complementary CMOS has a power-delay product of less than half that of the CPL version. Robustness with respect to voltage scaling and transistor sizing, as well as generality and ease-of-use, are additional advantages of CMOS logic gates, especially when cell-based design and logic synthesis are targeted. This paper shows that complementary CMOS is the logic style of choice for the implementation of arbitrary combinational circuits if low voltage, low power, and small power-delay products are of concern     

Registers for Phase Difference Based Logic

A logic design style known as phase difference-based logic (PDBL) has several benefits with respect to security and testing. An existing design method for PDBL circuits has so far been lacking an important component, a register. In this paper, we present the design of a speed independent PDBL register and a timed PDBL register, which can be used in asynchronous or synchronous circuits. Comparisons are presented in terms of speed, size, and power consumption.     

Data-driven self-timed RSFQ high-speed test system

Functional testing of rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) logic circuits at high speed is necessary to further optimize circuit design, but it is not easy to do off-chip testing because of the high speed and small amplitude of SFQ pulses. This paper will present the design and test results of an 20 Gb/s bit-by-bit on-chip high-speed digital test system based on data-driven self-timed (DDST) circuits     

Testing of multiple-output domino logic (MODL) CMOS circuits

Techniques for testing MODL circuits are presented. It is shown that, due to the greater observability of MODL circuits, their test sets can be considerably small than those derived for the conventional domino CMOS circuits. Tests for faults are derived from a comprehensive fault model which includes stuck-at, stuck-open, and stuck-on faults. Test sets for MODL circuits are inherently robust in the presence of circuit delays and timing skews at the inputs. They are also well-protected against the charge distribution problem. It is thus concluded that MODL is an attractive CMOS logic technique     

Current testing in dynamic CMOS circuits

Current testing of dynamic CMOS integrated circuits with single phase clock is investigated. The analysis is performed on a single phase stage dynamic module in the presence of internal bridging defects of low resistance. These defects produce intermediate voltage levels which cause difficulties to the logic testing methods based on voltage level comparison. It is shown that current testing may be an effective complement to the usual logic methods. Theoretical bounds on the coverage of single internal bridges obtainable by current testing are given.     

Dynamic internal testing of CMOS circuits using hot luminescence

Subnanosecond pulses of hot electron luminescence are shown to be generated coincident with logic state switching of individual devices in CMOS circuits. These pulses are used to directly observe 90 ps gate delays in a ring oscillator as well as the logic switching and gate delays of a counter. By use of a detector with both space- and time-resolution, the dynamics of all the gates of the circuit are simultaneously measured. This noninvasive technique can be extended to smaller device size, as well as probing from the backside of the wafer. The optical emission may provide an alternative to electron beam testing for measuring the dynamics of high-speed CMOS circuits     

高速低压低功耗BiCMOS逻辑电路及工艺技术

介绍了几种高开关速度、低电源电压等级，低功耗的BiCMOS逻辑门电路，并分析了它们的工作原理及其工艺技术情况。结果表明，这些电路的电源电压可达到2．0V以下，而且信号传输延迟较小，有的还实现了全摆幅输出，因而它们可用于便携式电子设备和其它VLSI和ULSI新品等场合。     

低电压下CMOS数字电路概率模型研究

为解决数字电路低功耗问题,电路工作电压被不断降低,导致电路逻辑器件呈现概率特性。本文提出了低电压下CMOS数字电路的错误概率模型,并完成硬件电路测试验证。本文首先详述了深亚微米（DSM）量级的门电路及模块在低电压供电条件下导致器件出错的因素,结合概率器件结构模型推导基本逻辑门概率模型,并提出了状态转移法用于完成由门级到模块级的概率分析模型;我们搭建硬件平台对CMOS逻辑芯片进行了低供电压测试,通过分析理论推导结果与实测结果,验证并完善了分析模型。实验结果表明,由状态转移法推导的电路概率模型符合电路实际性能,从而为构建低电压下数字电路概率模型提供了可靠分析模型。      

Transient power supply current monitoring—A new test method for CMOS VLSI circuits

We present a new method for testing digital CMOS integrated circuits. The new method is based on the following premise: monitor the switching behavior of a circuit as opposed to the output logic state. We use the transient power supply current as a window of observability into the circuit switching behavior. A method for isolating normal switching transients from those which result from defects is introduced. The feasibility of this new testing approach is investigated by conducting several experiments involving the design of integrated circuits with built-in defects, fabrication, and physical testing. The results of these experiments show this new test method to be a promising one for detecting defects that can escape stuck-at testing andI _DDQ testing.     

Fault detection in combinational circuits using a compressed fault table

A method is developed for obtaining a highly compressed fault table for two-level combinational circuits. A set of operations is defined through which the minimal test set for detecting stuck-at faults is obtained from the compressed fault table. The method is equally suitable for sum of products form or product of sums form realization of logic functions and generates the test set directly from the algebraic expression of the logic function.     

Computational analysis and comparison of reversible gates for design and test of logic circuits

Quantum computing is one of the most significant anticipation towards the accomplishment of interminable consumer demands of small, high speed, and low-power operable electronics devices. As reversible logic circuits have direct applicability to quantum circuits, design and synthesis of these circuits are finding grounds for emerging nano-technologies of quantum computing. Multiple Controlled Toffoli (MCT) and Multiple Controlled Fredkin (MCF) are the fundamental reversible gates that playing key role in this phase of development. A number of special reversible gates have also been presented so far, which were claimed superior for providing certain purposes like logic development and testing. This paper critically analyses a range of these gates to procure an optimal solution for design, synthesis and testing of reversible circuits. The experimentation is facilitated at three subsequent levels, i.e. gates properties, quantum cost and design & testability. MCT and MCF gates are found up to 50% more cost-effective than special gates at design level and 34.4% at testability level. Maximum reversibility depth (MRD) is included as a new measurement parameter for comparison. Special gates exhibit MRD up to 7 which ideally should be 1 for a system to be physically reversible as that of MCT and MCF gates.