Logic Testing and Design for Testability (Computer Systems Series)

Today's computers must perform with increasing reliability, which in turn depends on the problem of determining whether a circuit has been manufactured properly or behaves correctly. However, the greater circuit density of VLSI circuits and systems has made testing more difficult and costly. This book notes that one solution is to develop faster and more efficient algorithms to generate test patterns or use design techniques to enhance testability—that is, "design for testability." Design for testability techniques offer one approach toward alleviating this situation by adding enough extra circuitry to a circuit or chip to reduce the complexity of testing. Because the cost of hardware is decreasing as the cost of testing rises, there is now a growing interest in these techniques for VLSI circuits.

The first half of the book focuses on the problem of testing: test generation, fault simulation, and complexity of testing. The second half takes up the problem of design for testability: design techniques to minimize test application and/or test generation cost, scan design for sequential logic circuits, compact testing, built-in testing, and various design techniques for testable systems.

Hideo Fujiwara is an associate professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication, Meiji University. Logic Testing and Design for Testability is included in the Computer Systems Series, edited by Herb Schwetman.