Functional Testing of an ALU

This paper considers a test set for an ALU with look ahead carry generators(LCGs). The ALU is logically partitioned into two groups of blocks, the group of one-bit operation units and LCG group. Each group is tested in parallel and exhaustively, independent of the other. And an easily testable design is applied to several blocks for decreasing the number of the input combinations of them. Under the easily testable design, a minimum test set for each group is generated, and the upper and lower bounds for a minimum test for the ALU are derived. The difference of the lower and upper bounds is not large, and a test set whose number of test vectors is equal to the upper bound can be easily obtained as the union of minimum test sets for two groups. Hence, the union can be used as a complete and practical test set for the ALU

Proof that akers' algorithm for locally exhaustive testing gives minimum test sets of combinational circuits with up to four outputs

In this paper, we prove that Akers' test generation algorithm for the locally exhaustive testing gives a minimum test set (MLTS) for every combinational circuit (CUT) with up to four outputs. That is, we clarify that Akers' test pattern generator can generate an MLTS for such CUT</p

Minimum Verification test set for combinational circuit

A sufficient condition under which a minimum verification test set (MVTS) for a combinational circuit has 2w elements is derived, where w is the maximum number of inputs on which any output depends, and an algorithm to find an NVTS with 2w elements for any CUT with up to four outputs is described</p

Testing for the programming circuit of LUT-based FPGAs

The programming circuit of look-up table based FPGAs consists of two shift registers, a control circuit and a configuration memory (SRAM) cell array. Because the configuration memory cell array can be easily tested by conventional test methods for RAMs, we focus on testing for the shift registers. We show that the testing can be done by using only the faculties of the programming circuit, without using additional hardware</p

Improvement of detectability for CMOS floating gate defects in supply current test

We already proposed a supply current test method for detecting floating gate defects in CMOS ICs. In the method, increase of the supply current caused by defects is promoted by superposing a sinusoidal signal on the supply voltage. In this study, we propose one way to improve detectability of the method for the defects. They are detected by analyzing the frequency of supply current and judging whether secondary harmonics of the sinusoidal signal exist or not. Effectiveness of our way is confirmed by some experiments.</p

Fault tolerant packet-switched network design and Its sensitivity

Reliability and performance for telecommunication networks have traditionally been investigated separately in spite of their close relation. A design method integrating them for a reliable packet switched network, called a proofing method, is presented. Two heuristic design approaches (max-average, max-delay-link) for optimizing network cost in the proofing method are described. To verify their effectiveness and applicability, they are compared numerically for three example network topologies. The sensitivity of these two methods is examined with respect to changes in traffic demand and in link reliability. The design sensitivity to variation of input data is examined by changing the predicted probability of link failure, and by increasing the network traffic over the predicted value. The resulting analysis shows relative insensitivity of solutions generated by the two design methods to input data</p

A minimal-state processing search algorithm for satisfiability problems

The satisfiability problem (SAT) is a typical NP-complete problem where a wide range of applications has been studied. Given a set of variables U and a set of clauses C, the goal of SAT is to find a truth assignment to variables in U such that every clause in C is satisfied if it exits, or to derive the infeasibility otherwise. This paper presents an approximation algorithm, called a minimal-state processing search algorithm for SAT (MIPS-SAT). MIPS-SAT repeatedly transits minimal states in terms of the cost function for searching a solution through a construction stage and a refinement stage. The first stage greedily generates an initial state composed of as many satisfied clauses as possible. The second stage iteratively seeks a solution while keeping state minimality. The performance of MIPS-SAT is verified through solving DIMACS benchmark instances</p

Minimum test sets for locally exhaustive testing of combinational circuits with five outputs

In this paper, features of dependence matrices of combinational circuits with five outputs are discussed, and it is shown that a minimum test set for locally exhaustive testing of such circuits always has 2 w test patterns, where w is the maximum number of inputs on which any output depends</p

CMOS floating gate defect detection using I/sub DDQ/ test with DC power supply superposed by AC component

In this paper, we propose a new I/sub DDQ/ test method for detecting floating gate defects in CMOS ICs. In the method, an unusual increase of the supply current, caused by defects, is promoted by superposing an AC component on the DC power supply. The feasibility of the test is examined by some experiments on four DUTs with an intentionally caused defect. The results showed that our method could detect clearly all the defects, one of which may be detected by neither any functional logic test nor any conventional I/sub DDQ/ test.</p

A test methodology for interconnect structures of LUT-based FPGAs

In this paper we consider testing for programmable interconnect structures of look-up table based FPGAs. The interconnect structure considered in the paper consists of interconnecting wires and programmable points (switches) to join them. As fault models, stuck-at faults of the wires, and extra-device faults and missing-device faults of the programmable points are considered. We heuristically derive test procedures for the faults and then show their validness and complexity</p