Page 65 - DP-1-1

Design+

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Digital-like built-in defect-oriented test for

analog-mixed signal circuits

Mona Ganji* , Marampally Saikiran , Kushagra Bhatheja , and Degang Chen
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa,
United States of America

Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel digital-like defect-oriented built-in self-test (BIST)
methodology for analog and mixed-signal (AMS) circuits. The core idea of this
approach centers around the segmentation of complex AMS circuits into smaller,
more manageable units for analysis. Emphasizing resource utilization efficiency,
we highlight the necessity of employing purely digital circuits for both injectors
and monitors within the BIST framework. We demonstrate the effectiveness of
this approach through the development of a BIST system for a 12-bit successive
approximation register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC). Notably, our
methodology achieves 100% defect coverage without introducing additional BIST
circuitry for subcircuit testing, relying solely on digital monitors for sampling switch
evaluation. Furthermore, our proposed approach incurs minimal area overhead,
resulting in a fast and comprehensive defect-oriented BIST solution. This versatile
test method can be deployed post-manufacturing or in-field, offering flexibility in its
application timing.
*Corresponding author:
Mona Ganji
(mganji@iastate.edu) Keywords: Analog and mixed signal circuits; Defect-oriented test; Built-in self-test; Defect
coverage; Analog-to-digital converter
Citation: Ganji M, Saikiran M,
Bhatheja K, Chen D. Digital-like
built-in defect-oriented test for
analog-mixed signal circuits.
Design+. 2024;1(1):4351. 1. Introduction
doi: 10.36922/dp.4351
Received: July 29, 2024 We continue to witness an increase in both the number and complexity of integrated
circuits (ICs) being embedded in safety-critical applications, such as automotive systems.
Accepted: September 14, 2024
Remarkably, in the automotive industry alone, the number of ICs per vehicle has already
Published Online: November 18, 2024 surpassed the astonishing number of 400 ICs per vehicle. This requires a more stringent
1
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). approach to ensuring the reliability and functional safety of these embedded ICs. Certain
This is an Open-Access article automotive standards, such as ISO-26262 and AEC-100, require near zero defective
distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons parts per million (0 DPPM). In fact, for some of these devices, reliability and functional
AttributionNoncommercial License, safety criteria might even outweigh the performance requirements. Furthermore, non-
permitting all non-commercial use, mission-critical applications are increasingly adopting similar reliability standards due
distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work to the higher expected lifetimes of these devices. Furthermore, non-mission-critical
is properly cited. applications are increasingly adopting similar reliability standards due to the higher
Publisher’s Note: AccScience expected lifetimes of these devices. While achieving these stringent reliability standards
Publishing remains neutral with is feasible through rigorous post-manufacturing tests to a certain extent, they offer no
2-4
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional guarantee against in-field failures. Moreover, the varied environments in which these
affiliations. safety-critical ICs operate cannot be fully accounted for during post-manufacturing

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/dp.4351