An optimal algorithm for the automatic generation of March tests

Author

Benso, A. ; Di Carlo, S. ; Di Natale, G. ; Prinetto, P.

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Automatica e Informatica, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

938

Lastpage

943

Abstract

Among the different types of algorithms proposed to test random access memories (RAM), March tests have proven to be faster, simpler, regularly structured and linear in complexity. A March test consists of a sequence of March elements, each composed of a sequence of basic read/write operations to be performed on each cell of the memory, in either ascending or descending order, before proceeding to the next memory cell. The complexity of a March test is given by the number of memory operations in all March elements performed on each memory cell. This paper presents an innovative algorithm for the automatic generation of March tests. The proposed approach is able to generate an optimal March test for an unconstrained set of memory faults in very low computation time.

Keywords

automatic test pattern generation; fault diagnosis; integrated memory circuits; logic testing; optimisation; random-access storage; March element sequence; March test automatic generation; March test complexity; RAM; ascending memory cell order; descending memory cell order; memory cell basic read/write operations; optimal test sequence algorithm; unconstrained memory fault set; Algorithm design and analysis; Automatic test pattern generation; Automatic testing; Joining processes; Performance evaluation; Postal services; Random access memory; Read-write memory; Test pattern generators; Upper bound;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, 2002. Proceedings

ISSN

1530-1591

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1471-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DATE.2002.998412

Filename

998412