Efficient BIST hardware insertion with low test application time for synthesized data paths

Abstract

In this paper, new and efficient BIST methodology and BIST hardware insertion algorithms are presented for RTL data paths obtained from high level synthesis. The methodology is based on concurrent testing of modules with identical physical information by sharing the test pattern generators in a partial intrusion BIST environment. Furthermore, to reduce the number of signature analysis registers and test application time the same type modules are grouped in test compatibility classes and n-input k-bit comparators are used to check the results. The test application time is computed using an incremental test scheduling approach. An existing test scheduling algorithm is modified to obtain an efficient trade-off between the algorithm complexity and testable design space exploration. A cost function based on both test application time and area overhead is defined and a tabu search-based heuristic capable of exploring the solution space in a very rapid time is presented. To reduce the computational time testable design space exploration is carried out in two phases: test application time reduction phase and BIST area reduction phase. Experimental results are included confirming the efficiency of the proposed methodology.