Testing embedded memories: A survey

Abstract

According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, embedded memories will continue to dominate the increasing system on chips (SoCs) content in the future, approaching 90% in in some cases. Therefore, the memory yield and quality will have a dramatic impact on the overall SoC cost and outgoing product quality. Meeting a high memory yield and quality requires understanding memory designs, modeling their faulty behaviors in appropriate and accurate way, designing adequate tests and diagnosis strategies as well as efficient Design-for-Testability and Built-In-Self-Test (BIST) schemes. This paper presents the state of art in memory testing including fault modeling, test design and BIST. Further research challenges and opportunities are discussed in enabling testing (embedded) memories in the nano-era. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.