Testing Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits With Built-In Hardware—A New Approach

TLDR

The study proposes a built‑in hardware approach for testing analog and mixed‑signal SOCs. It implements oscillation‑based built‑in self‑test (OBIST) that generates on‑chip oscillatory responses to probe analog components. OBIST eliminates the need for external stimulus generators or complex analyzers, and simulations confirm its feasibility and usefulness on benchmark circuits.

Abstract

This paper aims to develop an approach to test analog and mixed-signal embedded-core-based system-on-chips (SOCs) with built-in hardware. In particular, oscillation-based built-in self-test (OBIST) methodology for testing analog components in mixed-signal circuits is implemented in this paper. The proposed OBIST structure is utilized for on-chip generation of oscillatory responses corresponding to the analog-circuit components. A major advantage of the OBIST method is that it does not require stimulus generators or complex response analyzers, which makes it suitable for testing analog circuits in mixed-signal SOC environments. Extensive simulation results on sample analog and mixed-signal benchmark circuits and other circuits described by netlist in HSPICE format are provided to demonstrate the feasibility, usefulness, and relevance of the proposed implementations