Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Other

Hewlett-Packard Company

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Jeff Rearick

John G Rohrbaugh

Shad R Shepston

Manish Sharma

Robert Campbell Aitken

Kenneth Paul Parker

Young Gon Kim

Benny W H Lai

Hugh S Wallace

John Stephen Walther

Haluk Konuk

Peter Maxwell

Christopher M Juenemann

Daryl H Allred

Sylvia Patterson

Hierarchically-controlled automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) is provided. One embodiment comprises a method for automatically generating test patterns for testing a device under test. Briefly described, one such method comprises the steps of: receiving a hierarchical model of a device under test, the hierarchical model comprising at least one low-level design component and at least one high-level design component which contains the low-level design component; selecting a fault to be detected in the device under test; and performing an automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) algorithm on the design components based on the hierarchy of the hierarchical model.

Hierarchically-controlled automatic test pattern generation

A method and apparatus for generating test patterns used to test an integrated circuit (IC). The apparatus comprises first logic for determining a subset of transition fault sites on an IC to be tested, second logic that identifies a longest sensitizable path through each transition fault site of the subset of transition fault sites, and third logic that generates a bounded set of test patterns that test the identified longest sensitizable paths through each transition fault site of the subset of transition fault sites. The present invention combines various aspects of transition fault modeling and path delay fault modeling to enable global delay testing of an IC within reasonable amount of time.

Method and apparatus for deriving a bounded set of path delay test patterns covering all transition faults

A system and method for evaluating a device under test (DUT) that utilizes a model of the DUT interfaced to DUT interface logic, which is designed to interface the DUT to automated testing equipment (ATE). By ensuring that the model includes a description of the DUT and of the DUT testing interface, conditions such as connections between ports of the IC (i.e., buddying) that may or may not be interfaced to the ATE may be included in the model to enable precise test pattern sets to be generated using the model. The test pattern sets may be used by a simulator to test the design of an IC or by ATE to test a fabricated IC having the design.

System and method for evaluating an integrated circuit design

A method and apparatus of carrying out a computer assisted analysis function on a hierarchical circuit model. The method is carried out by inputting the hierarchical circuit model, specifying at least one circuit block within the hierarchy as a target of the function on the target block, and simplifying the hierarchical circuit model by deleting circuit blocks not affecting the analysis function, to produce a simplified hierarchical circuit model. A computer assisted analysis function can then be carried out on the simplified hierarchical circuit model. The model is simplified by carrying out a block by block analysis of the hierarchical circuit model to determine if a circuit block is a circuit block desired in the computer assisted analysis and if so keeping the circuit block as part of the simplified hierarchical circuit model; and by carrying out a block by block analysis of the hierarchical circuit model to determine if a circuit block comprises a parent circuit block containing a child circuit block desired in the computer assisted analysis and if so keeping the parent circuit block as part of the simplified hierarchical circuit model.

Partitioning integrated circuit hierarchy

The present invention is generally directed to an improved automatic test pattern generator for generating test patterns that are used by an integrated circuit testing device. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method is provided for generating a set of test vectors for testing an integrated circuit, each test vector of the set of test vectors containing a plurality of bits defining test inputs for the integrated circuit. The method includes the steps of defining a list of faults for the integrated circuit, and generating at least one test vector that defines values for those inputs necessary to detect at least one target fault selected from the list of faults, the values comprising only a portion of the bits of the at least one test vector, wherein a remainder of the bits in the at least one test vector are unspecified bit positions. The method further includes the step of setting the values of a plurality of the unspecified bit positions using a non-random filling methodology.

Apparatus and method for generating a set of test vectors using nonrandom filling

Boundary scan testing methods that detect manufacturing defects in AC-coupled differential pairs may be based on a selected signal parameter: phase or frequency. The data is encoded by the signal parameter. In one embodiment, the signal parameter is compared to reference parameter data provided by the transmitter. In a second embodiment, the reference parameter data is sent from an external source. All the components on board are synchronized with this external source. In a third embodiment, the reference parameter data is embedded in each AC signal between the transmitter and receiver. Two lines of one differential link are used to send different patterns.

Method and apparatus of boundary scan testing for AC-coupled differential data paths

Method and apparatus for testing current sinking/sourcing capability of a driver circuit

A preferred integrated circuit (IC) includes a first pad electrically communicating with at least a portion of the IC. The first pad includes a first driver and a first receiver, with the first driver being configured to provide a first pad output signal to a component external to the IC, and the first receiver being configured to receive a first pad input signal from a component external to the IC. The first receiver also is configured to provide, to a component internal to the IC, a first receiver digital output signal in response to the first pad input signal. A first test circuit also is provided that is internal to the IC. The first test circuit is adapted to provide information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of the first pad. Systems, methods and computer-readable media also are provided.

Systems and methods for facilitating testing of pad drivers of integrated circuits

A test method and apparatus allows simultaneous loading of multiple scan chains via a single common scan-in port (SDI) and a scan clock signal SCAN CLOCK. Data is scanned into one or more scanpaths from a scan data in (SDI) port under the control of a clock signal, either directly or indirectly through a linear feedback shift register (LFSR). Scan-out data output from the scanpaths may be read at the scan data out (SDO) port, either directly or indirectly through a signature register with optional masking functionality.

Method for reducing stored patterns for IC test by embedding built-in-self-test circuitry for chip logic into a scan test access port

A method and apparatus are provided for determining quality metrics associated with a test pattern used to test an integrated circuit (IC). The delays associated with (1) a longest sensitizable path through the IC that includes the delay fault and (2) an actual path exercised by the test pattern through the IC that includes the delay fault are determined. A difference between the delays is then obtained. The difference is then combined with a difference between a speed at which the test is performed and a design specification operating speed of the IC for the actual path. The sum represents the first quality metric associated with the test pattern for a given fault site. The ratio of the delays of the actual path to the longest sensitizable path represents the second quality metric associated with the test pattern for a given fault site. The metrics for the individual fault sites can be statistically combined into respective metrics at the IC level to assess the quality of a single test pattern or for a group of test patterns.

Method and apparatus for measuring the quality of delay test patterns

Systems and methods for testing integrated circuits are provided. One such method comprises: providing a target fault list corresponding to an integrated circuit, the target fault list including at least a first fault and a second fault; measuring a relationship between the first fault and the second fault, the relationship corresponding to which of the first fault and the second fault is more readily detected by automatic test pattern generation; ordering the first fault and the second fault within the target fault list in a manner corresponding to the relationship; and performing automatic test pattern generation based upon an order of the faults of the target fault list. Systems and other methods also are provided.

Systems and methods for testing integrated circuits

Improvement in the transmission of Boundary Scan Test mode data may be achieved through the assignment of boundary scan test mode traffic to selected bit patterns that facilitate clock recovery and frame alignment in the serial channel. The encoding of boundary scan test traffic as such may be achieved through either multiplexed transmission to the serializer/deserializer (SERDES) alongside a regular channel encoder or incorporated into the channel encoder.

SERDES cooperates with the boundary scan test technique

A gate transition counter. A ring oscillator provides a plurality outputs, each delayed from the adjacent output by a gate delay. The outputs of the ring oscillator are captured by an array of latches upon receipt of a halt signal. The last latch drives a ripple counter. The preferred implementation uses five inverters in the ring oscillator so that each complete cycle of the ring oscillator represents ten gate delays. A ripple counter counts the number of gate delays by ten. The latch outputs and the ripple counter outputs can be converted to a binary representation of the number of gate delays to provide a count with the smallest time increment that can be produced by the circuit.

Gate transition counter

An integrated circuit is provided with Fully Automated Scan Testing (FAST)-lite flip-flop. The integrated circuit has data, scan in, master-hold, clock, scan-into-master, and master to-scan-out inputs. A first transistor circuit is connected to the data, master-hold, and clock inputs and has a first transistor circuit output. A second transistor circuit is connected to the can in and scan-into-master inputs and has a second transistor circuit output. A first flip-flop is connected to the first transistor circuit and second transistor circuit outputs and has a first flip-flop output. A third transistor circuit is connected to the second transistor circuit output and the master-to-scan-out input and has a third transistor circuit output. A second flip-flop latch is connected to the third transistor circuit output has a second flip-flop output. The FAST-lite flip-flop uses the normal functionality of the first flip-flop and second flip-flop to operate either in a normal mode or a test mode for scan testing. The FAST-lite flip-flop is so designated because it uses one less flip-flop than the prior art FAST flip-flop.

Integrated circuit with scan flip-flop

A method for operating a data processing system to provide an estimate of the leakage current expected from an integrated circuit having a known test vector applied thereto. The method generates a graph having a first node connected to a terminal maintained at a first power supply potential and a second node connected to a terminal maintained at a second power supply potential, the first and second power supply potentials having a potential difference of V,. Each edge represents a source-drain connected transistor connected between two nodes as a switch having a resistance that depends on whether the transistor is &ldquo;on&rdquo; or &ldquo;off&rdquo; when the test signals are present. Each node in the graph is assigned a value of 0 or 1, together with the strength of that value. The assignment process also verifies that the circuit is in a valid static state. A leakage current estimate is generated for each path connecting the first and second nodes, and estimates are combined to arrive at the estimate for the integrated circuit. In one embodiment, the leakage current is calculated using an equation having eight components. Four of these represent the leakage current arising from N-type transistors in the circuit and the other four represent the leakage current arising from P-type transistors in the circuit.

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Ft. Collins, CO, United States of America

Jeff Rearick