EET 493
Design for Reliability and
Testability of Digital Systems
Instructor: Dr. Mihaela Radu
Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Types of Testing
• Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) influences what types of
tests are possible:
• Serious analog measurement limitations at high digital frequency or
in the analog domain
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Types of Testing
• Characterization Testing (also known as Design
Debug or Verification Testing) -performed on a
new design before it is sent to production.
• Manufacturing testing (production test)-
factory testing of all manufactured chips for
parametric and logic faults, and analog
specifications. Includes burn-in or stress testing
• Acceptance testing (incoming inspection)- tests
performed by the user (customer) on purchased
parts to ensure quality
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Characterization Testing
(also known as Design Debug or Verification Testing)
• The purpose is to verify that the design is correct and the device will meet
all the specifications. Functional tests are run and comprehensive DC and AC
measurements are made.
• Verifies correctness of design and correctness of test procedure – may require
correction of either or both. (A production test program may be developed from
here).
• “Ferociously”/Extremely expensive
• It is applied to selected (not all) parts
• Probing of internal nodes of the chip may also be required during characterization.
• It is used prior to production or manufacturing test.
• May use specialized tools such as:
• Scanning Electron Microscope tests
• Electron beam testing
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• Artificial intelligence (expert system) methods
Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Characterization Testing
• A characterization test determines the exact limits of device
operating values. Usually worst-case test is selected.
Worst-case test; devices passing this test will work for any other
conditions)
Steps:
• Choose test that passes/fails chips
• Select statistically significant sample of chips (ICs)
• Repeat test for two or more combination of environmental
variables. This essentially means repetitively applying functional
tests and measuring various DC and AC parameters as we vary
different variables such as Vcc (power supply).
• Plot results in Shmoo plot (see next slide)
• Diagnose and correct design errors
• Measure chip characteristics for setting for final specifications
• Develop a production test program
• It is performed throughout production life of chips to improve design
and increase process yield.
• Yield is the fraction (or %) of acceptable parts among all fabricated
parts.
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Shmoo Plot
CS
tOTD
DATA
SRAM read operation:
tOTD = time to DATA
tristated after
chip deselect
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Manufacturing Testing
(Production Test)
• Every fabricated chip is subjected to production tests, which
are less comprehensive than characterization tests. Test for
parametric and logic faults.
• Manufacturing testing must enforce the quality requirements
by determining whether the chip meets specifications.
• Burn-in or stress testing-apply high temperatures and
over-voltage supply to the chips, while running production
tests.
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Manufacturing Testing
(Production Test)
• Determines whether manufactured chip meets specification;
Production tests are typically short but verify all relevant specifications
of the device.
• Must cover high % of modeled faults
• Must minimize test time (to control cost)
• No fault diagnosis; go/no go decision
• Test every device on chip
• Test at rated speed or at maximum speed guaranteed by the supplier
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Manufacturing Testing
Burn-in or Stress Test
• Process:
• Burn –in ensures reliability of tested devices by testing either
continuously or periodically over a long period of time and causing bad
devices to fail.
• Subject chips to mainly high temperatures and over-voltage supply, while
running production tests.
• Catches:
• Infant mortality cases – these are damaged or weak (low reliability) chips
that will fail in the first few days of operation – burn-in causes bad
devices to fail before they are shipped to customers.
• Freak failures – devices having same failure mechanisms as reliable
devices (require long burn-in time;100-1000 thousands of hours in an
accelerated environment).
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Bath tub curve, characterized by
• constant failure rate during useful life
• infant mortality and wear out periods have variable failure rates.
• component failure
• I: Infant mortality phase- burn-in
(H/L temperature, H/L humidity, vibrate, …)
• II: Useful life period -avoid extreme conditions-
• one possible technique- stress derating
• III: Wear out phase- early replacement of components or system
z(t)-failure rate function
I III
II
t
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital System
Acceptance Testing
(Incoming Inspection)
• User (customer) tests of the purchased parts to ensure quality
of the final products.
• Can be:
• Similar to production testing
• More comprehensive than production testing
• Tuned to specific system application
• Often it is done for a random sample of devices
• Sample size depends on device quality and system reliability
requirements
• Avoids putting defective device in a system where cost of diagnosis
and repair exceeds incoming inspection cost
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital System
Types of Tests
• Parametric – measures electrical properties of pin
electronics –voltages, currents, delay etc.
• Measure both DC and AC characteristics. Tests are
technology dependent (CMOS, TTL).
• Functional – consist of input vectors (stimuli) and the
corresponding responses. They test the proper operation
of chip nodes. They are used to cover very high % of
modeled faults in logic circuits.
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital Systems
Types of Testing
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Design for Reliability and Testability of Digital System
Test Specifications & Plan
• Test Specifications:
• Functional Characteristics
• Type of Device Under Test (DUT)
• Physical Constraints – package, pin numbers, etc.
• Environmental Characteristics – power supply, temperature, humidity,
etc.
• Reliability – acceptance quality level (defects/million), failure rate, etc.
• Test plan generated from specifications
• Type of test equipment to use
• Types of tests
• Fault coverage requirement
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