Testing Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits With Built-In Hardware-A New Approach

• Published in: IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement 2007-06, Vol.56 (3), p.840-855
• Main Authors: Das, S.R., Zakizadeh, J., Biswas, S., Assaf, M.H., Nayak, A.R., Petriu, E.M., Jone, W.-B., Sahinoglu, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Automatic testing; Built-in self-test; Built-in self-test (BIST); Circuit testing; circuit under test (CUT); Design engineering; design-for-testability (DFT); Information science; Information technology; Integrated circuit testing; Manufacturing; mixed-signal test; oscillation-based BIST (OBIST); System testing; System-on-a-chip; system-on-chip (SOC); test-pattern generator (TPG)
• ISSN: 0018-9456; 1557-9662
• DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2007.894223

This paper aims to develop an approach to test analog and mixed-signal embedded-core-based system-on-chips (SOCs) with built-in hardware. In particular, oscillation-based built-in self-test (OBIST) methodology for testing analog components in mixed-signal circuits is implemented in this paper. The proposed OBIST structure is utilized for on-chip generation of oscillatory responses corresponding to the analog-circuit components. A major advantage of the OBIST method is that it does not require stimulus generators or complex response analyzers, which makes it suitable for testing analog circuits in mixed-signal SOC environments. Extensive simulation results on sample analog and mixed-signal benchmark circuits and other circuits described by netlist in HSPICE format are provided to demonstrate the feasibility, usefulness, and relevance of the proposed implementations