Accurate testability analysis based-on multi-frequency test generation and a new testability metric

The effectiveness of testing the analog part of mixed-signal circuits impacts their overall manufacturing cost. Therefore, it is important to have accurate metrics to estimate fault coverage and to precisely measure the test quality. In this paper, we propose an accurate testability analysis based on multi-frequency test pattern generation and a new testability measure called the parameter fault coverage (PFC) that takes into account the continuous characteristic of the parametric faults spectrum and masking effect of process variations. This new analog test metric allows accurately measuring analog test quality and enables taking better decisions regarding the use of design for testability (DFT) techniques. Therefore, poor product test quality and unnecessary design modifications, which may be caused by incorrect fault coverage estimates, can be avoided.