Experimental Validation of a BIST Techcnique for CMOS Active Pixel Sensors

In this paper we present the experimental evaluation of a built-in-self-test (BIST) principle for the detection of defective pixels of a CMOS imager. The pixel BIST technique aims at an structural test based on electrical stimuli. Simple electrical test measures are considered. Test limits are set in order to minimize pixel false acceptance and false rejection under mismatch deviations. The pixel BIST is next evaluated by considering the fault coverage obtained with catastrophic and single parametric faults. Finally, test metrics obtained by simulation for mismatch deviations are compared with experimental data.