It is a well-known phenomenon that test power consumption may exceed that of functional operation. ICs have been observed to fail at specified minimum operating voltages during structured at-speed testing while passing all other forms of test. Methods exist to reduce power without dramatically increasing pattern volume for a given coverage. We present case study information on ATPG- and DFT-based solutions for test power reduction.

Minimizing power consumption in scan testing: pattern generation and DFT techniques

This book provides broad and comprehensive coverage of the entire EDA flow. EDA/VLSI practitioners and researchers in need of fluency in an "adjacent" field will find this an invaluable reference to the basic EDA concepts, principles, data structures, algorithms, and architectures for the design, verification, and test of VLSI circuits. Anyone who needs to learn the concepts, principles, data structures, algorithms, and architectures of the EDA flow will benefit from this book.


Covers complete spectrum of the EDA flow, from ESL design modeling to logic/test synthesis, verification, physical design, and test - helps EDA newcomers to get "up-and-running" quickly 
Includes comprehensive coverage of EDA concepts, principles, data structures, algorithms, and architectures - helps all readers improve their VLSI design competence 
Contains latest advancements not yet available in other books, including Test compression, ESL design modeling, large-scale floorplanning, placement, routing, synthesis of clock and power/ground networks - helps readers to design/develop testable chips or products 
Includes industry best-practices wherever appropriate in most chapters - helps readers avoid costly mistakes



Table of Contents


Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Fundamentals of CMOS Design Chapter 3: Design for Testability Chapter 4: Fundamentals of Algorithms Chapter 5: Electronic System-Level Design and High-Level Synthesis Chapter 6: Logic Synthesis in a Nutshell Chapter 7: Test Synthesis Chapter 8: Logic and Circuit Simulation Chapter 9:?Functional Verification Chapter 10: Floorplanning Chapter 11: Placement Chapter 12: Global and Detailed Routing Chapter 13: Synthesis of Clock and Power/Ground Networks Chapter 14: Fault Simulation and Test Generation.

Electronic Design Automation: Synthesis, Verification, and Test

Modern electronics testing has a legacy of more than 40 years. The introduction of new technologies, especially nanometer technologies with 90nm or smaller geometry, has allowed the semiconductor industry to keep pace with the increased performance-capacity demands from consumers. As a result, semiconductor test costs have been growing steadily and typically amount to 40% of today's overall product cost. 

This book is a comprehensive guide to new VLSI Testing and Design-for-Testability techniques that will allow students, researchers, DFT practitioners, and VLSI designers to master quickly System-on-Chip Test architectures, for test debug and diagnosis of digital, memory, and analog/mixed-signal designs.

KEY FEATURES
* Emphasizes VLSI Test principles and Design for Testability architectures, with numerous illustrations/examples.
* Most up-to-date coverage available, including Fault Tolerance, Low-Power Testing, Defect and Error Tolerance, Network-on-Chip (NOC) Testing, Software-Based Self-Testing, FPGA Testing, MEMS Testing, and System-In-Package (SIP) Testing, which are not yet available in any testing book.
* Covers the entire spectrum of VLSI testing and DFT architectures, from digital and analog, to memory circuits, and fault diagnosis and self-repair from digital to memory circuits.
* Discusses future nanotechnology test trends and challenges facing the nanometer design era; promising nanotechnology test techniques, including Quantum-Dots, Cellular Automata, Carbon-Nanotubes, and Hybrid Semiconductor/Nanowire/Molecular Computing.
* Practical problems at the end of each chapter for students.

System-on-Chip Test Architectures: Nanometer Design for Testability

Scan-based at-speed testing is a key technology to guarantee timing-related test quality in the deep submicron era. However, its applicability is being severely challenged since significant yield loss may occur from circuit malfunction due to excessive IR drop caused by high power dissipation when a test response is captured. This paper addresses this critical problem with a novel low-capture-power X-filling method of assigning 0's and 1's to unspecified (X) bits in a test cube obtained during ATPG. This method reduces the circuit switching activity in capture mode and can be easily incorporated into any test generation flow to achieve capture power reduction without any area, timing, or fault coverage impact. Test vectors generated with this practical method greatly improve the applicability of scan-based at-speed testing by reducing the risk of test yield loss

Low-capture-power test generation for scan-based at-speed testing

At-speed scan is a key technique in modern IC testing. One of its drawbacks, with respect to functional tests, is its excessive power consumption leading to voltage drop and frequency degradation. This paper discusses the frequency and power correlation between At-speed scan and functional tests. The influence of voltage drop on frequency is demonstrated by silicon measurements and supporting simulation results. The localized nature of the voltage drop as well as impedance component analysis are presented. Additionally, the need for power aware scan patterns is also discussed. Suggestions for achieving a higher correlation between At-speed scan and functional patterns, with respect to power consumption, are offered.

Frequency and Power Correlation between At-Speed Scan and Functional Tests

The authors describe new strategies where at-speed scan tests can be applied with internal PLL. They present techniques for optimizing ATPG across multiple clock domains and methodologies to combine both stuck-at-fault and delay-test vectors into an effective test suite.

High-frequency, at-speed scan testing

This paper addresses delay test for SOC devices with high frequency clock domains. A logic design for on-chip high-speed clock generation, implemented to avoid expensive test equipment, is described in detail. Techniques for on-chip clock generation, meant to reduce test vector count and to increase test quality, are discussed. ATPG results for the proposed techniques are given.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00181638/document

Logic Design for On-Chip Test Clock Generation - Implementation Details and Impact on Delay Test Quality

Reduced pin count testing (RPCT) has proven to be an effective solution to reduce structural test costs in a manufacturing environment. Traditionally, RPCT has focused on stuck-at faults and IO loop-back tests. However, as circuit feature sizes shrink and new technology nodes employed, at-speed tests are becoming critical to assure low defect levels. In this paper, we extend the RPCT technique to allow application of atspeed test patterns using low cost testers that are seriously pin limited. Existing boundary scan cells are modified to facilitate the application of at-speed patterns thereby having minimal impact on the design and test area overhead.

Achieving High Test Quality with Reduced Pin Count Testing

This paper addresses delay test for SOC devices on low-cost testers. The case study focuses on the at-speed testing for a state-of the-art microcontroller device by using an on-chip high-speed clock generator. The experimental results show that the simple on-chip high-speed clock generator is not sufficient to reach both high fault coverage and acceptable pattern count. Meanwhile, at-speed test constraints, required to enable the delay test on low cost testers, have a significant impact on test generation results. DFT techniques to increase fault coverage and to reduce pattern count are discussed.

Ron Press

Papers

High-frequency, at-speed scan testing

Logic Design for On-Chip Test Clock Generation - Implementation Details and Impact on Delay Test Quality

Logic Design for On-Chip Test Clock Generation - Implementation Details and Impact on Delay Test Quality

Achieving High Test Quality with Reduced Pin Count Testing

Measures to improve delay fault testing on low-cost testers - a case study