Native mode functional self-test generation for Systems-on-Chip

With the rapid increase in the functionality of a single chip, the generation of high quality manufacturing tests which can be applied at-speed has become a serious issue. The problem is further compounded with an increasing level of integration in the case of Systems-On-Chip (SOCs), for which existing test generation tools are inadequate. Many of the peripherals in a SOC design may not include testability features, which renders conventional design for testability (DFT) approaches ineffective. Functional tests applied at-speed in the native mode of a microprocessor have been shown to be effective in detecting realistic defects. A novel approach to adopt this strategy to generate test patterns for SOCs is presented in this paper. This approach utilizes the core processor's instruction set to test its own functionality and that of the peripheral components. A SOC based on a model of the Intel 8085 processor is used to show the effectiveness of this approach.