( ESNUG 303 Item 11 ) --------------------------------------------- [11/4/98]
Subject: (ESNUG 289 #13) Can I Test Embedded RAMs W/ My Full SCAN Chain?
> I'm curious if anyone in the chip CAD market can test the embeded RAMs
> through the full scan chain. Are there any EDA products/tools that do
> this? Theoretically, you should be able to accomplish this since there
> are Flip-Flops all around the RAMs, which the scan chain has complete
> control over. Plus, I don't really care how many vectors it takes, as
> long as the process is automagic.
>
> - Victor J. Duvanenko
> Truevision
From: Dominic Botti <dominic.botti@netvantage.com>
Hi Victor:
Did you ever find any tools to solve or half solve your problem? I am
considering the same option, except I am possibly going to generate the WGL
file myself and use a tool to generate a test bench to verify the pattern.
For me, the approach is not too efficient, unless I can use the scan unit
on the tester. If the scan path is designed in a reasonable order, the WGL
file might be possible with a script, but if you were asking for a tool
which works with an arbitrary scan chain, that is a tall order. Anything
you can tell me will be of use.
- Dominic Botti
NetVantage Sunnyvale, CA
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From: Victor_Duvanenko@truevision.com
Hi Dominic,
I'll have to look through my e-mail messages, but I vaguely remember that
Mentor may have had a tool that tested the RAMs through the scan chain.
LSI Logic has RAM-bist, but you'll have to figure out how to control it and
I don't believe that they can automatically control it through scan vectors.
IBM has RAM-bist that they control through their LSSD scan chain, but
this tool is not available commercially and is only available internally
(it sure would be nice if the rest of the CAD world would realize how nice
of a capability it is to test your entire chip through a single interface
automagically - now that's a productivity gain - plus making perfect silicon
is a silicon vendor's problem, and not a designers problem! Vendor's need
to realize this fact!).
Good luck and let me know what you find,
- Victor Duvanenko
Truevision
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