81 - Introductory Hardware Testing

Defects exist in almost any IC produced.
All produced ICs should be tested and faulty ones discarded
A test is a set of tasks carried out to check if something is working properly

Test Pattern

Proper sequence of values

SUT - System Under Test

System being tested

Reference System

System to which we compare a test SUT

Checker

System that compares test results

ATE - Automatic Test Equipment

Equipment that automates the testing process

TPG - Test Pattern Generation

Patterns are generated by algorithms ad-hoc implemented in the ATPG - Automated Test Pattern Generation environments

DFT - Design for Testability

Methodology that revolves around designing a system such that it is testable in the first place

Full Scan (IC)

At design time introduce two modes, normal functional mode and test mode, and adopt a scanning technique

Boundary-Scan (JTAG/IEEE 1149.1)

Serial interface that allows access to special embedded logic in most chips

IEEE 1149.1/JTAG

In a processor or BGA (Ball Grid Array) /PGA (Pin Grid Array), this standard adds additional pins (TAP ports), an additional internal register and the TAP controller.
Vastly adopted due to benefits from testing logic not needing extra stuff

BIST - Built-In Self Test

Offline BIST

System performs normally but has to be taken down for tests

Online BIST

Test is performed while system is running

BISR - Built-in Self Repair

System designed so that it can self-correct faults