Microprocessor testability

Author

Nagle, H. Troy ; Fritzemeier, Ronald R. ; Van Well, Jean E. ; McNamer, Michael G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA

Volume

36

Issue

2

fYear

1989

fDate

5/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

151

Lastpage

163

Abstract

As the level of microprocessor complexity increases to several hundred thousand transistors for a single-chip machine, it is becoming very difficult to test commercially available designs to the level of fault coverage desired by some customers. In order to achieve near 100-percent coverage of single stuck-at faults, future microprocessors must be designed with special testing features (designed for testability). The authors describe the testing problem for microprocessors, including the various methods of generating test sets and their application by the user. A survey of the testability features of some of today´s commercially available microprocessors is presented. Suggestions for testability features for future-generation microprocessors are also discussed.<>

Keywords

computer testing; fault location; integrated circuit testing; microprocessor chips; fault coverage; microprocessor testability; single stuck-at faults; test set generation; Biomedical engineering; Circuit faults; Circuit testing; Fault detection; Laboratories; Logic testing; Manufacturing; Microprocessor chips; Pins; Very large scale integration;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0278-0046

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/41.19064

Filename

19064