Testing configurable LUT-based FPGA's

  • Authors:
  • Wei Kang Huang;Fred J. Meyer;Xiao-Tao Chen;Fabrizio Lombardi

  • Affiliations:
  • Fudan Univ., Shanghai, China;Texas A&M Univ. College Station;Lucent Technologies, Allentwon, PA;Texas A&M Univ., College Station

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems
  • Year:
  • 1998

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Abstract

We present a new technique for testing field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's) based on look-up tables (LUT's). We consider a generalized structure for the basic FPGA logic element (cell); it includes devices such as LUT's, sequential elements (flip-flops), multiplexers and control circuitry. We use a hybrid fault model for these devices. The model is based on a physical as well as a behavioral characterization. This permits detection of all single faults (either stuck-at or functional) and some multiple faults using repeated FPGA reprogramming. We show that different arrangements of disjoint one-dimensional (l-D) cell arrays with cascaded horizontal connections and common vertical input lines provide a good logic testing regimen. The testing time is independent of the number of cells in the array (C-testability), We define new conditions for C-testability of programmable/reconfigurable arrays. These conditions do not suffer from limited I/O pins. Cell configuration affects the controllability/observability of the iterative array. We apply the approach to various Xilinx FPGA families and compare it to prior work.