Memory Testing

Memory Cells Per Chip

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 Test Time in Seconds
(Memory Size n Bits, Memory Cycle Time 60ns)

Size Number of Test Algorithm Operations

n n n X log2n n3/2 n2

1 Mb 0.06 1.26 64.5 18.3 hr

4 Mb 0.25 5.54 515.4 293.2 hr
16 Mb 1.01 24.16 1.2 hr 4691.3 hr
64 Mb 4.03 104.7 9.2 hr 75060.0 hr
256 Mb 16.11 451.0 73.3 hr 1200959.9 hr
1 Gb 64.43 1932.8 586.4 hr 19215358.4 hr
2 Gb 128.9 3994.4 1658.6 hr 76861433.7 hr

Fault Types

– Permanent
• System is broken and stays broken the
same way indefinitely
– Transient
• Fault temporarily affects the system
behavior, and then the system reverts to the
good machine
• Time dependency, caused by environmental
condition
– Intermittent
• Sometimes causes a failure, sometimes
does not
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 Failure Mechanisms

• Permanent faults:
– Missing/Added Electrical Connection
– Broken Component (IC mask defect or silicon-
to-metal connection)
– Burnt-out Chip Wire
– Corroded connection between chip & package
– Chip logic error (Pentium division bug)

• Transient Faults:
– Cosmic Ray
– An a particle (ionized Helium atom)
– Air pollution (causes wire short/open)
– Humidity (temporary short)
– Temperature (temporary logic error)
– Pressure (temporary wire open/short)
– Vibration (temporary wire open)
– Power Supply Fluctuation (logic error)
– Electromagnetic Interference (coupling)
– Static Electrical Discharge (change state)
– Ground Loop (misinterpreted logic value)

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• Intermittent Faults:
– Loose Connections
– Aging Components (changed logic delays)
– Hazards and Races in critical timing paths (bad
design)
– Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor variances (timing
faults)
– Physical Irregularities (narrow wire -- high
resistance)
– Electrical Noise (memory state changes)

Physical Failure Mechanisms

• Corrosion
• Electromigration
• Bonding Deterioration
– Au package wires interdiffuse with Al chip pads
• Ionic Contamination
– Na+ diffuses through package and into FET gate oxide
• Alloying
– Al migrates from metal layers into Si substrate
• Radiation and Cosmic Rays
– 8 MeV, collides with Si lattice, generates n-p pairs, causes
soft memory error

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 Memory Test Levels

Chip,
Array, &
Board

March Test Notation

r -- Read a memory location

w -- Write a memory location
r0 -- Read a 0 from a memory location
r1 -- Read a 1 from a memory location
w0 -- Write a 0 to a memory location
w1 -- Write a 1 to a memory location
-- Write a 1 to a cell containing 0
-- Write a 0 to a cell containing 1
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 -- Complement the cell contents
-- Increasing memory addressing

-- Decreasing memory addressing

-- Either increasing or decreasing

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MATS+ March Test

M0: { March element (w0) }

for cell := 0 to n - 1 (or any other order) do
write 0 to A [cell];
O(n) complexity
M1: { March element (r0, w1) }
NPSFs cannot be detected
for cell := 0 to n - 1 do
read A [cell]; { Expected value = 0}
write 1 to A [cell];
M2: {March element (r1, w0) }
for cell := n – 1 down to 0 do
read A [cell]; { Expected value = 1 }
write 0 to A [cell];
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 Fault Modeling

• Behavioral (black-box) Model

– State machine modeling all memory content combinations
– Intractable
• Functional (gray-box) Model
– Frequently used
• Logic Gate Model
– Not used
– Inadequately models transistors & capacitors
• Electrical Model
– Very expensive
• Geometrical Model
– Layout Model
– Used with Inductive Fault Analysis

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Detailed Functional Model

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 Simplified Functional Model

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Functional Faults

Fault
SAF Stuck-at fault
TF Transition fault
CF Coupling fault
NPSF Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive fault

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 Stuck-at Faults

• Manifestation:
– The logic value of a cell or line is always at 0 or 1.
• Necessary condition for detection:
– For each cell, a 0 and a 1 must be read.

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Stuck-at Faults (contd.)

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 Transition Faults

• It is a special case of stuck-at fault, in

which a cell fails to make a 0
1, or a 1

0 transition.
• Up transition fault:
– Denoted as: < ↑ / 0 >
• Down transition fault:
– Denoted as: < ↓ / 1 >

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Transition Faults (contd.)

• Necessary condition to detect and locate all

transition faults:
– Each cell must undergo a ↑ transition and a ↓
transition, and be read after each, before
undergoing any further transitions.

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 Transition Faults (contd.)

Up transition fault < ↑ / 0 >

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Coupling Faults

• Coupling Fault (CF):

– Transition in memory bit j causes unwanted
change in memory bit i.
• 2-Coupling Fault:
– Involves 2 cells; special case of k-coupling fault.
– Must restrict k to make the fault model practical.
• For example, NPSF (to be discussed later).
• Inversion and Idempotent CF’s
– Special cases of 2-coupling faults.

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 Inversion Coupling Faults (CFin)

• A ↑ or ↓ transition in cell j inverts the

contents of cell i.
– Cell i is said to be coupled to cell j.

• Two possible CFin’s are:

– < ↑ ;
> and < ↓ ;
>

• Necessary condition for detection:

– For all cells that are coupled, each should be read
after a series of possible CFin’s may have occurred
(due to writing into the coupling cells), and the
number of coupled cell transitions must be odd (to
prevent the CFin’s from masking each other).

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CFin (contd.)

• Theorem:
– Not all linked CFin’s are detected by March
tests.

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CFin: Good Machine State

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CFin: Faulty Machine State

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 Idempotent Coupling Faults (CFid)

• A ↑ or ↓ transition in cell j sets cell i to 0 or 1.

↑; 0>, <↑
– Denoted as <↑ ↑;1>, <↓
↓;0>, <↓
↓;1>
• Necessary condition for detection:
– For all cells that are coupled, each should be read
after a series of possible CFid’s may have occurred
(due to writing into the coupling cells), such that
the sensitized CFid’s do not mask each other.
• Asymmetric CFid:
– Coupled cell only does ↑ or ↓.
• SymmetricCFid:
– Coupled cell does both due to fault.
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CFid: Faulty Machine State

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 Dynamic Coupling Faults (CFdyn)

• Read or write in cell of 1 word forces cell

in a different word to 0 or 1.
• <r0 | w0 ; 0>, <r0 | w0 ; 1>,
< r1 | w1 ; 0>, and <r1 | w1; 1>
– ‘|’ denotes “OR” of two operations

• More general than CFid, because a CFdyn

can be sensitized by any read or write
operation.

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Bridging Faults

• Short circuit between 2 or more cells or lines.

• 0 or 1 state of coupling cell, rather than
coupling cell transition, causes coupled cell
change.
• Bidirectional fault -- i affects j, j affects i
• AND Bridging Faults (ABF):
– < 0,0 / 0,0 >, <0,1 / 0,0 >, <1,0 / 0,0>, <1,1 / 1,1>
• OR Bridging Faults (OBF):
– < 0,0 / 0,0 >, <0,1 / 1,1 >, <1,0 / 1,1>, <1,1 / 1,1>

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 Address Decoder Faults (ADFs)

• Address decoding error assumptions:

– Decoder does not become sequential
– Same behavior during both read & write
• Multiple ADFs must be tested for
• Decoders have CMOS stuck-open faults

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• Theorem:
– A March test satisfying the following
conditions detects all address decoder faults:
a) (rx, ………, wx)
b) (rx, ………, wx)
where the dots indicate any number of read or
write operations.

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 Reduced Functional Faults

Fault Functional fault

SAF a Cell stuck
SAF b Driver stuck
SAF c Read/write line stuck
SAF d Chip-select line stuck
SAF e Data line stuck
SAF f Open circuit in data line
CF g Short circuit between data lines
CF h Crosstalk between data lines
AF i Address line stuck
AF j Open circuit in address line
AF k Shorts between address lines
AF l Open circuit in decoder
AF m Wrong address access
AF n Multiple simultaneous address access
TF o Cell can be set to 0 (1) but not to 1 (0)
NPSF p Pattern sensitive cell interaction

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Functional RAM Testing with March Tests

• March Tests can detect AFs -- NPSF

Tests Cannot
• Conditions for AF detection:
– It must read the value x from cell 0, write x’ to
cell 0; read x from cell 1, write x’ to cell 1; for
the entire memory.
– It must read the value x’ from cell n-1, write x
to cell n-1; read x’ from cell n-2, write x to cell
n-2; for the entire memory.

• In the following March tests, addressing

orders can be interchanged.
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 Irredundant March Tests
Algorithm Description
MATS { (w0); (r0, w1); (r1) }
MATS+ { (w0); (r0, w1); (r1, w0) }
MATS++ { (w0); (r0, w1); (r1, w0, r0) }
MARCH X { (w0); (r0, w1); (r1, w0); (r0) }
MARCH { (w0); (r0, w1); (r1, w0);
C-- (r0, w1); (r1, w0); (r0) }
MARCH A { (w0); (r0, w1, w0, w1); (r1, w0, w1);
(r1, w0, w1, w0); (r0, w1, w0) }
MARCH Y { (w0); (r0, w1, r1); (r1, w0, r0); (r0) }
MARCH B { (w0); (r0, w1, r1, w0, r0, w1);
(r1, w0, w1); (r1, w0, w1, w0);
(r0, w1, w0) }
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Irredundant March Test Summary

Algorithm SAF AF TF CF CF CF Linked

in id dyn Faults
MATS All Some
MATS+ All All
MATS++ All All All
MARCH X All All All All
MARCH C-- All All All All All All
MARCH A All All All All Some
MARCH Y All All All All Some
MARCH B All All All All Some

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 March Test Complexity

Algorithm Complexity
MATS 4n
MATS+ 5n
MATS++ 6n
MARCH X 6n
MARCH C-- 10n
MARCH A 15n
MARCH Y 8n
MARCH B 17n

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MATS+ Example:: Cell (2,1) SA0 Fault

MATS+:
{ M0: (w0); M1: (r0, w1); M2: (r1, w0) }

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 MATS+ Example:: Cell (2, 1) SA1 Fault

MATS+:
{ M0: (w0); M1: (r0, w1); M2: (r1, w0) }

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MATS+ Example:: Multiple AF

• Cell (2,1) is not addressable

• Address (2,1) maps into (3,1) & vice versa
• Can’t write (2,1), read (2,1) gives random #

MATS+:
{ M0: (w0); M1: (r0, w1); M2: (r1), w0 }
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 Pattern Sensitive Faults

• Base Cell – cell under test

• Neighborhood -- Immediate cluster of cells whose
pattern makes base cell fail
• Deleted Neighborhood – Neighborhood without
the base cell
• NPSF -- Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive Fault
(Most General k-coupling fault)
– ANPSF -- Active Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive Fault
– PNPSF -- Passive Neighborhood PSF
– SNPSF -- Static Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive Fault

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Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive

Coupling Faults
• Cell i’s ability to change influenced by all other
memory cell contents, which may be a 0/1 pattern
or a transition pattern.
• Testing assumes read operations are fault free

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 Type 1 Active NPSF

• Active: Base cell changes when one deleted

neighborhood cell transitions
• Condition for detection & location: Each base cell
must be read in state 0 and state 1, for all possible
deleted neighborhood pattern changes.
• C i,j <d0, d1, d3, d4 ; b>
• C i,j <0, ↓ , 1, 1; 0> and C i,j <0, ↓ , 1, 1;
>

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Type 2 Active NPSF

• Used when diagonal couplings are significant,

and do not necessarily cause horizontal/vertical
coupling.

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 Passive NPSF

• Passive:
– A certain neighborhood pattern prevents the
base cell from changing

• Condition for detection and location:

– Each base cell must be written and read in
state 0 and in state 1, for all deleted
neighborhood pattern changes.

• ↑/ 0 (↓
↓ /1) -- Base cell fault effect
indicating that base cannot change

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Static NPSF

• Static:
– Base cell forced into a particular state when
deleted neighborhood contains particular pattern.
• Differs from active -- need not have a
transition to sensitive SNPSF
• Condition for detection and location:
– Apply all 0 and 1 combinations to k-cell
neighborhood, and verify that each base cell was
written.
• Ci,j < 0, 1, 0, 1; - / 0> and
Ci,j < 0, 1, 0, 1; - / 1>
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 Number of NPSFs
• Active Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive Faults (ANPSF)
– Base cell 0 and 1
• ↑ and ↓ transitions in k – 1 cells
– All 0-1 patterns in k – 2 cells
– 2 (k – 1) 2 × 2k – 2 = (k – 1) 2k patterns
• Passive Neighborhood Pattern Sensitive Faults (PNPSF)
– Base cell ↑ and ↓ transition
• All 0-1 patterns in k – 1 cells
– 2 × 2k – 1 = 2k patterns
• Total APNPSF patterns = (k – 1) 2k + 2k = k 2k
• Static Neighborhood Patterns (SNP) = 2k

Sequencing Neighborhood Patterns with

Minimal Writes
End 100 110
k=4

Start
000 010 101 111

Deleted
neighborhood 001 011
patterns
Hamiltonian path for SNPSF
Eulerian path for ANPSF

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• Euler Path:
– It is a path in a graph that traverses every edge
of the graph exactly once.
• Hamiltonian Path:
– It is a path that starts with some vertex of a
graph, and traverses every vertex exactly
once.

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Hamiltonian Path, k = 5

1011
1111

1001
1101

0011
0111 1010
1110
0001
0101 1000
1100

0010
0110

0000
0100

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 Tiling for Type-1 Neighborhood
1 2 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 0 1 2

0 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 0

2VLSI3 Test:4 Lecture

0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3
15alt
4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0

1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2

4 4 2 3 4
0 0 1 2 3 0 1

Total Patterns for n Cells

Fault type Without tiling With tiling

Static neighborhood
patterns sensitive n × 2k n × 2k / k
faults (SNPSF)
Active and passive
neighborhood pattern
n × k × 2k n × k × 2k / k
sensitive faults
(APNPSF)
k = neighborhood size = 5 or 9

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 Type 1 Tiling Neighborhoods

• Write changes k different neighborhoods.

• Tiling Method: Cover all memory with non-
overlapping neighborhoods.

53

Two Group Method

• Only for Type-1 neighborhoods.

• Use checkerboard pattern, cell is simultaneously a
base cell in group 1, and a deleted neighborhood cell
in 2.

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 NPSF Fault Detection
and Location Algorithm
1. write base-cells with 0;
2. loop
apply a pattern; { it could change the base-
cell from 0 to 1. }
read base-cell;
endloop;
3. write base-cells with 1;
4. loop
apply a pattern; { it could change the base-
cell from 1 to 0. }
read base-cell;
endloop;
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NPSF Testing Algorithm Summary

• A: active, P: passive, S: static

• D: Detects Faults, L: Locates Faults
Fault Fault Coverage Oper-
Algorithm Loca- NPSF ation
tion? SAF TF A P S Count
TDANPSF1G No L D 163.5 n
TLAPNPSF1G Yes L L L L L 195.5 n
TLAPNPSF2T Yes L L L L 5122 n
TLAPNPSF1T Yes L L L L 194 n
TLSNPSF1G Yes L L 43.5 n
TLSNPSF1T Yes L L 39.2 n
TLSNPSF2T Yes L L 569.78 n
TDSNPSF1G No L D 36.125 n
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 NPSF Testing Algorithms

Algorithm Neigh- Method k

bor-
hood
TDANPSF1G Type-1 2 Group 5
TLAPNPSF1G Type-1 2 Group 5
TLAPNPSF2T Type-2 Tiling 9
TLAPNPSF1T Type-1 Tiling 5
TLSNPSF1G Type-1 2 Group 5
TLSNPSF1T Type-1 Tiling 5
TLSNPSF2T Type-2 Tiling 9
TDSNPSF1G Type-1 2 Group 5

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Fault Hierarchy

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 Memory Testing Summary

• Multiple fault models are essential

• Combination of tests is essential:
– March -- SRAM and DRAM
– NPSF -- DRAM
– DC Parametric -- Both
– AC Parametric -- Both

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