Distributed BIST technique and its test design platform for VLSIs

This paper proposes a distributed built-in self-test (BIST) technique and its test design platform for VLSIs. This BIST has lower hardware overhead pattern generators, compressors and a controller. The platform cuts down on the number of complicated operations needed for the BIST insertion and evaluation, so the BIST implementation turn-around-time (TAT) is dramatically reduced. Experimental results for the 110k-gate arithmetic execution blocks of an image-processing LSI show that using this BIST structure and platform enables the entire BIST implementation within five days. The implemented BIST has a 1% hardware overhead and 96% fault coverage. This platform will significantly reduce testing costs for time-to-market and mass-produced LSIs.