A structured and scalable mechanism for test access to embedded reusable cores

  • Authors:
  • Erik Jan Marinissen;Robert G. J. Arendsen;Gerard Bos;Hans Dingemanse;Maurice Lousberg;Clemens Wouters

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-;-;-;-;-

  • Venue:
  • ITC '98 Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Test Conference
  • Year:
  • 1998

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Abstract

The main objective of core-based IC design is improvement of design efficiency and time-to-market. In order to prevent testdevelopment from becoming the bottleneck in the entire development trajectory, reuse of pre-computed tests for the reusablepre-designed cores is mandatory. The core user is responsible for translating the test at core level into a test at chip level. Astandardized test access mechanism eases this task, therefore contributing to the plug-n-play character of core-based design.This paper presents the concept of a structured test access mechanism for embedded cores. Reusable IP modules are wrappedin a TESTSHELL. Test data access from chip pins to TESTSHELL and vice versa is provided by the TESTRAIL, while theoperation of the TESTSHELL is controlled by a dedicated test control mechanism (TCM). Both TESTRAIL as well as TCMare standardized, but open for extensions.