A programmable data background generator for march based memory testing

Wei-Lun Wang1, Kuen-Jong Lee2
1Department of Electronic Engineering, Cheng Shiu Institute of Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2Department of Electronic Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Tóm tắt

Due to the short test time and high fault coverage, march algorithms have been widely used to test the SRAM and DRAM memory chips and cores in a system-on-chip (SOC). To raise the fault coverage of the word-oriented memories (WOMs), distinct data backgrounds of the march algorithms are required. In this paper we have integrated two kinds of data background generators into a single design in the built-in self-test (BIST) environment. The proposed data background generator can generate different sizes and different kinds of data backgrounds for testing the WOMs. It is shown that the design is easily programmable with very little external control. Also when combined with the existing data register in the memory, the hardware overhead is quite small.

Từ khóa

#Circuit faults #System testing #Hardware #Random access memory #System-on-a-chip #Built-in self-test #Circuit testing #Combinational circuits #Costs

Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1109/ETW.2000.873788 10.1109/92.953506 10.1109/DATE.1998.655905 10.1109/54.748806 van de goor, 1998, Testing Semiconductor Memories, Theory and Practice