Test time minimization for system-on-chip with test bus assignment and sizing

This paper discusses the extensions to the automatic SOC test architecture optimization tool TR-ARCHITECT that allow the user to partially specify the resulting test architecture. We describe a novel Test Architecture Specification (TAS) language, in which the user can express constraints with respect to (1) the number of Test Access Mechanisms (TAMs), (2) the TAM widths, (3) the assignment of modules to TAMs, and (4) the module ordering within a TAM. We also describe the extensions and modifications to the algorithms of TR-ARCHITECT that were necessary to incorporate the ability to satisfy the user constraints. We present experimental results for several ITC'02 SOC Test Benchmarks.

With the development of research on IEEE Std1500, IP (Intellectual Property) cores compatible with IEEE Std1500 are more and more. IEEE Std1500 provides wrapper architecture and TAM (Test Access Mechanism) for DFT (Design for Testability) of IP cores. So, the design of TAM becomes an important part of DFT for IP cores. Familiar TAM is introduced first, and then according to the characters of wrapper architecture, a TAM design based on bus is put forward. At last, TAM controller design for configurations of TAM is provided.

We propose a technique to integrate core selection in the SOC (system-on-chip) test solution design-flow. It can, in contrast to previous approaches, be used in the early design-space exploration phase (the core selection process) to evaluate the impact on the system's final test solution imposed by different design decisions, i.e. the core selection and the cores' test characteristics. The proposed technique includes the interdependent problems: test scheduling, TAM (test access mechanism) design, test set selection and test resource floor-planning, and it minimizes a weighted cost-function based on test time and TAM routing cost while considering test conflicts and test power limitations. An advantage with the technique is the novel three-level power model: system, power-grid, and core. We have implemented and compared the proposed technique, a fast estimation technique and a computational extensive pseudo-exhaustive method, and the results demonstrate that our technique produces high quality solutions at reasonable computational cost.

Test access mechanism (TAM) optimization and test data compression lead to a reduction in test data volume and testing time for SOCs. In this paper, we integrate for the first time both these approaches into a single test methodology. We show, how an integrated test architecture based on TAMs and test data decoders can be designed. The proposed approach offers considerable savings in test resource requirements. Two case studies using the integrated test architecture are presented. Experimental results on rest data volume reduction, savings in test application time and the low test pin overheads for a benchmark SOC demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

We present a mathematical model for the problem of scheduling tests for core-based system-on-chip (SOC) VLSI designs. Given a set of tests for each core in the SOC and a set of test resources (e.g., test access mechanisms (TAM)), we determine the test plan for the application of the tests to the SOC. Test planning in this paper refers to the combined activities of test access architecture partitioning and test scheduling. These activities must be performed in conjunction as the choice of the test access architecture influences the test schedule. We justify the formulation of test scheduling w.r.t. minimum average completion time criterion as compared to minimum makespan. We show that then the problem of scheduling tests on TAMs can be mapped onto a graph theoretic problem which has a polynomial time optimal solution. We have implemented our algorithm as a test planner tool TPLAN. We present the theoretical analysis of our approach in this paper, and compare our results against those published earlier using integer linear programming techniques with encouraging results.

This paper proposes a new parallel test access strategy for multiple identical cores in a network-on-chip (NoC). The proposed test strategy takes advantage of the regular design of NoC to reduce both test area overhead and test time. The proposed NoC reused test access mechanism (TAM) adopted a pipelining structure and a deterministic test data routing algorithm in order to reuse the full bandwidth of links in the NoC. Also, the architecture has complete scalability according to the number of cores and applications for 3D environment are also represented. Experimental results show that the proposed TAM can test multiple cores with the same test time as a single core and negligible hardware overhead.

As the system-on-chip (SoC) design becomes more complex, the test costs are increasing. One of the main obstacles of a test cost reduction is the limited number of test channels of the ATE while the number of pins in the design increases. To overcome this problem, a new test architecture using a channel sharing compliant with IEEE Standard 1149.1 and 1500 is proposed. It can significantly reduce the pin count for testing a SoC design. The test input data is transmitted using a test access mechanism composed of only input pins. A single test data output pin is used to measure the sink values. The experimental results show that the proposed architecture not only increases the number of sites to be tested simultaneously, but also reduces the test time. In addition, the yield loss owing to the proven contact problems can be reduced. Using the new architecture, it is possible to achieve a large test time and cost reduction for complex SoC designs with negligible design and test overheads.

본 논문에서는 스캔 체인의 레이아웃 거리를 고려한 효율적인 Test Wrapper 설계 방식을 제안한다. SoC내의 스캔체인들을 태스트하기 위해서는 외부 TAM 라인(line)에 각 스캔체인들을 할당해야 한다. IP 내에 존재하는 스캔체인들은 정상모드에서는 타이밍 위반(Timing Violation)이 발생하지 않도록 레이아웃이 되지만, 테스트 모드에서는 TAM 라인(line)과 연결되는 스캔체인들 간에 부가적인 레이아웃 거리를 갖게 되므로 스캔체인에서 타이밍 위반이 발생될 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 타이밍 위반이 발생하지 않도록 체인간 레이아웃거리를 고려하여 스캔체인을 할당하는 새로운 test wrapper 설계 방식을 제안하였다. We present the efficient test wrapper design methodology considering the layout distance of scan chain. To test the scan chains in SoC, the scan chains must be assigned to external TAM(Test Access Mechanism) lines. The scan chains in IP were placed and routed without any timing violation at normal mode. However, in test mode, the scan chains have the additional layout distance after TAM line assignment, which can cause the timing violation of flip-flops in scan chains. This paper proposes a new test wrapper design considering layout distance of scan chains with timing violation free.

With the increase of the number of IP cores integrated in SOC, the functions of SOC ar e becoming more complexed. Test time and test cost grow rapidly, therefore it becomes bo ttleneck of SOC test. Test scheduling is one of the efficient approaches to solve the forenamed ques tion. Cross-entropy method, which is ba sed on probability density function, has been used to solve the SOC test scheduling problem. Experimental results on ITC’02 benchmarks show that the proposed method provides better test time results compared to the Linear-Programming. Keywords: System on chip, test scheduling, cross-entropy method 1. INTRODUCTION In order to shorten the time to market, core based system-on-chip (SOC) design has becomed a widely used technique of integrated circuit design. Compared with system-on-board, work frequency of SOC has improved observably because signal transfers delay is avoid. However, the testing of SOC and the reusable cores becomes a bottleneck of the SOC development. The SOC test includes test information exchange mechanism, test wrapper generation, test access mechanism (TAM) design, test controller design, test schedulin g and test integration, etc. Among the SOC test issues, the test scheduling is one of the most important challenges. Many works have forced on core test scheduling to minimize the overall testing time, in [7], the test scheduling is mapped to the linear programming (LP) problem, but the computation time is too long. In this paper, we use a cross-entropy (CE) method, which is based on probability density function, to solve the test scheduling problem. The paper is organized as follows. In section II, the test scheduling problem is briefly described. We formulate the problem of test scheduling using CE method in section III. Experimental results are given in section IV, and section V concludes the paper.

Low-power multi-core ATPG to target concurrency

The increased usages of multi-core systems diminish per-core complexity and also demand several parallel design and test technologies. This paper introduces a novel test access mechanism (TAM) for parallel testing of multiple identical cores. Instead of typical test response data from the cores, the test output data used in this paper are the majority values extracted from the typical test response from the cores. All the cores can be tested in parallel and test costs (test time, test pins) are exactly the same as for a single core. The experiment results in this paper show the proposed TAM can test multiple cores with minimal test pins and test time and with negligible hardware overhead.

With the increasing complexity and chip scale of SoC, the test problem is becoming more difficult and important. Adding DFT (design for testability) in SoC design period has become the main method for solving the test problem. Based on analyzing some common DFT structures such as Fscan-Bscan, Fscan-Tbus, and the standard for embedded core test (SECT) IEEE P1500, a system-level mixed DFT-TAM (test access mechanism) structure has been presented in this paper. In this structure, different DFT methods are applied in different characteristic IP (intellectual property) cores to pursue the reasonable testing cost, then, a more flexible TAM is built in the system level for achieving every IP core test and testing the connection faults between two IP cores. By some experiments with the programmable video add data (VAD) SoC introduced in this paper, the higher fault coverage and lower test cost could be gotten

We proposed a novel pre-bond functional test architecture for core-level partitioned 3D SoCs. In this test architecture, a new test access mechanism is built by probing functional Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) and by linking functional TSVs to all pins of IP cores under test. In order to reduce the Design-for-Test (DfT) cost, we propose a novel scheme to share the functional TSVs among pins of IP cores and reuse wires which connect pins to the same functional TSVs. Experimental results based on the MCNC benchmarks circuits demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the DfT optimization methods.

In this paper, a test access mechanism named TESTLINE and its test time and power optimization algorithm for SOC test is presented. TESTLINE just needs 5 pins and can provide high-speed parallel test scheme. TESTLINE has a scalable mechanism. Its schematic can be easily configured according to test time and test power. ILP (Integer Linear Programming) is used to find the optimal results. TESTLINE also is a hierarchical structure. It is easy to build a hierarchical test access mechanism.

A novel test access mechanism (TAM) architecture with multi test-channel (TC) based on IEEE Standard 1500 is proposed instead of the traditional sub-TAM structure. The cost model of an area-time associated test and the corresponding lower bound of system-on-chip (SoC) test time are established based on this TAM architecture. The model provides a more reliable method to control the SoC scheduling and reduces the complexity in related algorithm research. The result based on the area time associated test cost model has been validated using the ITC’02 test benchmark.