Selecting built-in self-test configurations for field programmable gate arrays

In our previous work, we have described a built-in self-test (BIST) approach for RAM-based field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which exploits the reprogrammability of the FPGA to create BIST logic only during off-line testing. The cost is additional external memory required to store the BIST reconfiguration data, leaving all FPGA logic resources available for system functions. In this paper, the memory requirements as well as the testing time are minimized by selecting a few BIST configurations which provide high fault coverage for inspection tests at board and system manufacturing as well as for efficient system diagnostics and field testing