On Using Twisted-Ring Counters for Test Set Embedding in BIST

We present a novel built-in self-test (BIST) architecture for high-performance circuits. The proposed approach is especially suitable for embedding precomputed test sets for core-based systems since it does not require a structural model of the circuit, either for fault simulation or for test generation. It utilizes a twisted-ring counter (TRC) for test-per-clock BIST and is appropriate for high-performance designs because it does not add any mapping logic to critical functional paths. Test patterns are generated on-chip by carefully reseeding the TRC. We show that a small number of seeds is adequate for generating test sequences that embed complete test sets for the ISCAS benchmark circuits.Instead of being stored on-chip, the seed patterns can also be scanned in using a low-cost, slower tester. The seeds can be viewed as an encoded version of the test set that is stored in tester memory. This requires almost 10X less memory than compacted test sets obtained from ATPG programs. This allows us to effectively combine high-quality BIST with external testing using slow testers. As the cost of high-speed testers increases, methodologies that facilitate testing using slow testers become especially important. The proposed approach is a step in that direction.     

Partial Reset Methodology and Experiments for Improving Random-Pattern Testability and BIST of Sequential Circuits

Partial reset has been shown to have significant impact on test generation for sequential circuits in a stored-pattern test application environment. In this paper, we explore the use of partial reset in fault-independent testing and built-in self-test (BIST) of non-scan sequential circuits. We select a subset of flip-flops in the circuit to be resetable to logic one or zero during the application of the test vectors. The resetting is performed with random frequency. The selection of the flip-flops and the reset polarity is based on fault-propagation analysis, which determines the impact of a selected flip-flop on fault propagation from the circuits structure. Application of partial reset as described above yields an average improvement of 15% in fault-coverage for sequential circuits resistant to random pattern testing. To further enhance testability, we also present a methodology for selecting observable test points based on propagation of switching activity. Overall, high fault coverages (about 97%) are obtained for many of the ISCAS89 benchmark circuits. Thus, partial reset BIST provides a low cost alternative for testing sequential circuits when scan design is unacceptable due to area and/or delay constraints. The routing overhead for implementing BIST is seen to be about 6%.     

Deterministic built-in test pattern generation for high-performancecircuits using twisted-ring counters

We present a new approach for built-in test pattern generation based on the reseeding of twisted-ring counters (TRCs). The proposed technique embeds a precomputed deterministic test set for the circuit under test (CUT) in a short test sequence produced by a TRC. The TRC is designed using existing circuit flip-flops and does not add to hardware overhead beyond what is required for basic scan design. The test control logic is simple, uniform for all circuits, and can be shared among multiple CUTs. Furthermore, the proposed method requires no mapping logic between the test generator circuit and the CUT; hence it imposes no additional performance penalty. Experimental results for the ISCAS benchmark circuits show that it is indeed possible to embed the entire precomputed test set in a TRC sequence using only a small number of seeds     

A BIST TPG for Low Power Dissipation and High Fault Coverage

This paper presents a low hardware overhead test pattern generator (TPG) for scan-based built-in self-test (BIST) that can reduce switching activity in circuits under test (CUTs) during BIST and also achieve very high fault coverage with reasonable lengths of test sequences. The proposed BIST TPG decreases transitions that occur at scan inputs during scan shift operations and hence reduces switching activity in the CUT. The proposed BIST is comprised of two TPGs: LT-RTPG and 3-weight WRBIST. Test patterns generated by the LT-RTPG detect easy-to-detect faults and test patterns generated by the 3-weight WRBIST detect faults that remain undetected after LT-RTPG patterns are applied. The proposed BIST TPG does not require modification of mission logics, which can lead to performance degradation. Experimental results for ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits demonstrate that the proposed BIST can significantly reduce switching activity during BIST while achieving 100% fault coverage for all ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits. Larger reduction in switching activity is achieved in large circuits. Experimental results also show that the proposed BIST can be implemented with low area overhead.     

Test-Per-Clock Logic BIST with Semi-Deterministic Test Patterns and Zero-Aliasing Compactor

We present a test-per-clock BIST scheme using memory for storing test patterns that reduces the number of clock cycle necessary for testing. Thus, the test application time is shorter and energy consumption is lower than those in other solutions. The test hardware consists of a space compactor and a MISR, which provides zero error aliasing for modeled faults. The test pattern generator (TPG) scheme is based on a T-type flip-flop feedback shift register. The generator can be seeded similarly to a D-type flip-flop shift register. It generates test patterns in a test-per-clock mode. The TPG pattern sequence is modified at regular intervals by adding a modulo-2 bit from a modification sequence, which is stored in a memory. The memory can be either a ROM on the chip or a memory in the tester. The test patterns have both random and deterministic properties, which are advantageous for the final quality of the resulting test sequence. The number of bits stored in the memory, number of clock cycles, hardware overhead and the parameters of the resulting zero aliasing space compactor and MISR are given for the ISCAS benchmark circuits. The experiments demonstrate that the BIST scheme provides shorter test sequences than other methods while the hardware overhead and memory requirements are kept low.     

CLA加法器混合式BIST方案

本文以先行进行加法器为例,将确定性测试方法与伪随机测试方法相结合,提出了实现内建自测试电路中测试生成器的、在测试昨测试电路硬件开锁之间取得折衷的几种方案。最后,比较并分析了所得结果。     

An Effective Power Reduction Methodology for Deterministic BIST Using Auxiliary LFSR

Power consumption for test vectors is a major problem in SOC testing using BIST. A new low power testing methodology to reduce the peak power and average power associated with scan-based designs in the deterministic BIST is proposed. This new method utilizes an auxiliary LFSR to reduce the amount of the switching activity in the deterministic BIST. Excessive transition detector (ETD) monitors the number of transitions in the test pattern generated by LFSR and the low transition pattern is generated for excessive transition region using an auxiliary LFSR. Experimental results for the larger ISCAS 89 benchmarks show that reduced peak power and average power can indeed be achieved with little hardware overhead compared to previous schemes.     

Mixed-Mode BIST Using Embedded Processors

In complex systems, embedded processors may be used to run software routines for test pattern generation and response evaluation. For system components which are not completely random pattern testable, the test programs have to generate deterministic patterns after random testing. Usually the random test part of the program requires long run times whereas the part for deterministic testing has high memory requirements.In this paper it is shown that an appropriate selection of the random pattern test method can significantly reduce the memory requirements of the deterministic part. A new, highly efficient scheme for software-based random pattern testing is proposed, and it is shown how to extend the scheme for deterministic test pattern generation. The entire test scheme may also be used for implementing a scan based BIST in hardware.     

An ADC BIST with on-chip ramp generator

This work presents built-in self-test (BIST) techniques for the production testing of mixed signal circuits. The special test strategy for the typical mixed-signal component analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is discussed. The traditional test for such mixed-signal components can be completed through a DSP-based mixed-signal tester with an arbitrary waveform generator and a signal digitizer, but such a test is very costly and time consuming. Hence, a BIST strategy based on an on chip ramp generator (OCRG) is proposed in this work for testing ADC. This BIST method has an advantage testing ADC without DAC to overcome area overhead. This BIST method realizes the test controller, test pattern generation and output response analyser at the aspect of the on-chip circuitry. The demonstration of the proposed BIST is given through various simulation results in the last parts of this work.     

Delay Fault Testing: Choosing Between Random SIC and Random MIC Test Sequences

The combination of higher quality requirements and sensitivity of high performance circuits to delay defects has led to an increasing emphasis on delay testing of VLSI circuits. In this context, it has been proven that Single Input Change (SIC) test sequences are more effective than classical Multiple Input Change (MIC) test sequences when a high robust delay fault coverage is targeted. In this paper, we show that random SIC (RSIC) test sequences achieve a higher fault coverage than random MIC (RMIC) test sequences when both robust and non-robust tests are under consideration. Experimental results given in this paper are based on a software generation of RSIC test sequences that can be easily generated in this case. For a built-in self-test (BIST) purpose, hardware generated RSIC sequences have to be used. This kind of generation will be shortly discussed at the end of the paper.     

Built-in Self Test Based on Multiple On-Chip Signature Checking

We propose an improved BIST architecture which supports on-chip comparison of signatures at no significant increase in area. The proposed test architecture reduces detection latency and eliminates the lengthy scan-out phase from each test session by allowing testing and on-chip signature comparison of multiple intermediate signatures to occur concurrently. The work is based on a novel procedure to implement the multiple on-chip signature checking. We show that such a test method gives significant improvements in test application time and aliasing probability. This paper also presented two techniques to minimize the test area overhead with a very small test time overhead compare to the conventional schemes. These techniques resulted in up to 80% savings in test area overhead for some High-level synthesis benchmark circuits. This paper also presents an aliasing analysis of the proposed scheme.     

An efficient built-in self test method for robust path delay fault testing

Single Input Change (SIC) testing has been proposed for robust path delay fault testing. In this letter a new Built-In Self Test (BIST) method for SIC vector generation is presented. The proposed method compares favourably to the previously proposed methods for SIC pattern generation with respect to hardware overhead and time required for completion of the test.     

内建自测试的测试生成方法研究

内建自测试（BIST）方法是目前可测试性设计（DFT）中应用前景最好的一种方法,其中测试生成是关系BIST性能好坏的一个重要方面。测试生成的目的在于生成尽可能少的测试向量并用以获得足够高的故障覆盖率,同时使得用于测试的硬件电路面积开销尽可能低、测试时间尽可能短。内建自测试的测试生成方法有多种,文中即对这些方法进行了简单介绍和对比研究,分析了各自的优缺点,并在此基础上探讨了BIST面临的主要问题及发展方向。     

Oscillation-based test in digital shapers

We address the problem of testing digital shapers used for nuclear spectroscopy. Particularly, we propose a solution based on the oscillation-based test (OBT) for testing the finite impulse response (FIR) filters of the shaper. The OBT strategy developed here exploits the natural partition of the system in high-pass and low-pass sections for implementing two different non-linear oscillators. The oscillation parameters are obtained in advance using two different approaches: one based on the filter signal flow-graph; the other based on the describing function technique. The fault simulation results show high fault coverage and acceptable test time. Additionally, we suggest the use of this test strategy in a BIST environment, because it does not need resources for pattern generation and presents both low system intrusion and low hardware overhead.     

Fast Test Pattern Generation for Sequential Circuits Using Decision Diagram Representations

The paper presents a novel hierarchical approach to test pattern generation for sequential circuits based on an input model of mixed-level decision diagrams. A method that handles, both, data and control parts of the design in a uniform manner is proposed. The method combines deterministic and simulation-based techniques. On the register-transfer level, deterministic path activation is combined with simulation based-techniques used for constraints solving. The gate-level local test patterns for components are randomly generated driven by high-level constraints and partial path activation solutions. Experiments show that high fault coverages for circuits with complex sequential structures can be achieved in a very short time by using this approach.     

Allocation Techniques for Reducing BIST Area Overhead of Data Paths

Built-in self-test (BIST) techniques modify functional hardware so that a chip has the capability to test itself. A prime concern in using BIST is the area overhead due to the modification of normal registers to BIST registers. This paper proposes register and interconnect assignment techniques that address the BIST area overhead issue during high-level synthesis. A minimal intrusion BIST methodology is employed where a subset of the functional registers are modified to be BIST registers. Depending on the BIST functions performed (test pattern generation and/or test response compression) and the concurrency of the functions, four types of BIST registers with varying costs are used. Data path allocation techniques are presented that (1) maximize the sharing of BIST registers between modules, and (2) minimize the number of expensive BIST registers that are essential for minimal intrusion BIST of a data path. The designs synthesized by our techniques have the same number of functional modules and registers as those synthesized using traditional approaches but require significantly lower BIST area overhead.     

Integration of partial scan and built-in self-test

Partial-Scan based Built-In Self-Test (PSBIST) is a versatile Design for Testability (DFT) scheme, which employs pseudo-random BIST at all levels of test to achieve fault coverages greater than 98% on average, and supports deterministic partial scan at the IC level to achieve nearly 100% fault coverage. PSBIST builds its BIST capability on top a partial scan structure by adding a test pattern generator, an output data compactor, and a PSBIST controller in a way similar to that of deriving a full scan BIST from a full scan structure. However, to make the scheme effective, there is a minimum requirement regarding which flip-flops in the circuit should be replaced by scan flip-flops and/or initialization flip-flops. In addition, test arents are usually added to boost the fault coverage to the range of 95 to 100 percent. These test points are selected based on a novel probabilistic testability measure, which can be computed extremely fast for a special class of circuits. This ciass of circuits is precisely the type of circuits that we obtain after replacing some of the flip-flops.withscan and/or initilization flip-flops. The testability measure is also used for a very useful quick estimation of the fault coverage right after the selection of sean flip-flops, even before the circuit is modified to incorporate PSBIST capability. While PSBIST provides all the benefits of BIST, it incurs lower area overhead and performance degradation than full scan. The area overhead is further reduced when the boundary scan cells are reconfigured for BIST usage.     

A test methodology for finite state machines using partial scan design

This paper presents an efficient automatic test pattern generation technique for loop-free circuits. A partial scan technique is used to convert a sequential circuit (finite state machine) with arbitrary feedback paths into a pipelined circuit for testing. Test generation for these modified circuits can be performed with a modified combinational automatic test pattern generator (ATPG), which is much faster than a sequential ATPG. A combinational model is obtained by replacing all flipflops by buffers. It is shown that a test vector for a fault in this model obtained by a combinational test generator can be expanded into a sequence of identical vectors to detect the same fault in the original sequential circuit. This technique may abort a few faults which can then be resolved with a sequential ATPG. Experiments on the ISCAS89 circuits show that only 30% to 70% of flipflops require scanning in larger circuits and 96% to 100% fault coverage for almost all the circuits without resorting to a sequential ATPG.This research was sponsored by the Semiconductor Research Corporation, Contract 90-DP-142.     

Deterministic BIST with Multiple Scan Chains

A deterministic BIST scheme for circuits with multiple scan paths is presented. A procedure is described for synthesizing a pattern generator which stimulates all scan chains simultaneously and guarantees complete fault coverage.The new scheme may require less chip area than a classical LFSR-based approach while better or even complete fault coverage is obtained at the same time.