Automatic generation of synchronous test patterns for asynchronous circuits

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a novel approach for automatic test patterngeneration of asynchronous circuits. The techniques used for thispurpose assume that the circuit can only be exercised by applyingsynchronous test vectors, as is done by real-life testers.The main contribution of the paper is the abstraction of thecircuit's behavior as a synchronous finite state machine in such away that similar techniques to those currently used for synchronouscircuits can be safely applied for testing.Currently, the fault model being used is the input stuck-at model.Experimental results on different benchmarks show that our approachgenerates test vectors with high fault coverage.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.4 INPUT/OUTPUT AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS
      B.4.3 Interconnections (subsystems)
          Subjects: Asynchronous/synchronous operation

Additional Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.7 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
      B.7.3 Reliability and Testing**
          Subjects: Test generation**

  G. Mathematics of Computing
  G.2 DISCRETE MATHEMATICS

  J. Computer Applications

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Performance, Theory