Fault coverage

About: Fault coverage is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10153 publications have been published within this topic receiving 161933 citations. The topic is also known as: test coverage.

A High-Fault-Coverage Approach for the Test of Data, Control and Handshake Interconnects in Mesh Networks-on-Chip

Abstract: A novel strategy to detect interconnect faults between distinct channels in networks-on-chip is proposed. Short faults between distinct channels in the data, control and communication handshake lines are considered in a cost-effective test sequence for Mesh NoC topologies based on XY routing.

I DDQ testing as a component of a test suite: the need for several fault coverage metrics

Abstract: This article is concerned with the role of I DDQ testing, in conjunction with other types of tests, in achieving high quality. In particular, the argument is made that rather than use a single fault coverage, it is better to obtain a number of different coverages, for different types of faults. To demonstrate the need for increasingly stringent fault coverage requirements, an analysis is given of the relationship between quality, fault coverage and chip area. This analysis shows that as chip area increases, fault coverage must also increase to maintain constant quality levels. Data are then presented from a production part tested with Iddq scan, timing and functional tests. To realistically fault grade I DDQ tests, three different coverage metrics are considered. The data show differences in tester failures compared to these coverage metrics, depending on whether one uses total Iddq failures (parts which fail Iddq regardless of whether they fail other tests as well) or unique IDdq failures (parts which fail only Iddq). The relative effectiveness of the different components of the full test suite are analyzed and it is demonstrated that no component can be removed without suffering a reduction in quality.

Test Length in a Self-Testing Environment

Abstract: Two ideas are Coupled to help determine the Pseudorandom test length in a self-testing environment. The first is that yield, defect level after test, and test coverage are related. Tbe second is that Fault Coverage as ta function of the number of pseudorandom test patterns can be approximated on semilogarithmic paper an exponential curve, with statistical confidence intervals. Merging these two concepts allows one to relate the shipped defect level as a function of the number of radomp pattterns and yield, With this knowledge, the test length of pseudorandom patterns Can be Predicted in a self-test environment.

On the generation of small dictionaries for fault location

Abstract: Fault location based on a fault dictionary is considered. To justify the use of a precomputed dictionary in terms of computation time, the computational effort invested in computing a dictionary is first analyzed. The number of circuit diagnoses that need to be performed dynamically, without the use of precomputed knowledge, before the overall effort exceeds the effort of computing a dictionary, is studied. Experimental results on ISCAS85 circuits show that for relatively small numbers of diagnoses, a precomputed dictionary is more efficient. A method to derive small dictionaries without losing resolution of modeled faults is then proposed. Methods to compact the resulting dictionary further, using compaction techniques generally applied to fault detection, are then described. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods presented. Internal observation points to increase the resolution of the test set are also considered.