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Controllability and Observability

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6 views5 pages

Controllability and Observability

Uploaded by

nisha.gajjar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Controllability and observability - basics of DFT

What DFT is meant for: Design for Testability (DFT) is basically meant for
providing a method for testing each and every node in the design for structural
and other faults. Higher the number of nodes which can be tested through the
targeted number of patterns, greater is the test coverage of the design. For this
to be possible, every node in the design has to be controllable and observable.
But what is controllability and observability? We can consider these as the two
basic principles of DFT which are to be followed in order to have the maximum
test coverage possible through minimum number of patterns. Let us discuss
these.

Controllability: By controllability from DFT point of view, we intend if both ‘0’ and
‘1’ are able to propagate to each and every node within the target patterns. A
point is said to be controllable if both ‘0’ and ‘1’ can be propagated through scan
patterns.

What if a node is not controllable: To achieve DFT coverage for a node, it is


needed to be controllable. If a node is not controllable, it cannot be tested. For
production mode devices, it is necessary to have certain minimum percentage of
nodes controllable to ensure reliable devices to the customers. So, less number
of controllable nodes mean less DFT coverage, and hence, less reliable devices.
Figure 1 : Figure showing a node that is not controllable within targetted number of patterns

Inserting control points (enhancing controllability): A node can be made


controllable by inserting control points. If the test coverage target is not getting
met through target number of patterns, control points are inserted to increase the
test coverage. A control point is an alternate path supplied to a node to let a
particular value propagate to it. As shown in figure1, NODEA is not controllable
within targeted number of patterns. We need to insert a control point in order to
increase its controllability. As shown in figure2, an alternate path can be provided
to NODEA controlled by enable signal. Adding control point at NODEA not only
improves the controllability of NODEA, but it also improves the controllability of
fanout cone of NODEA.
Figure 2 : Inserting control point to enhance controllability

There can be three types of control points:


 ‘0’ control points – Suppose we were earlier able to propagate ‘1’ to
NODEA. We only need to let ‘0’ propagate. In that case, we can add a ‘0’ control
point
 ‘1’ control points - Suppose we were earlier able to propagate ‘0’ to
NODEA. We only need to let ‘1’ propagate. In that case, we can add a ‘0’ control
point
 Flop control points – In order to let propagate both ‘0’ and ‘1’ through
control points, flops need to be inserted.
In case of ‘0’ and ‘1’ control points, the control input of mux can be tied to ‘0’ or
‘1’. Hence, area overhead is only a mux. On the other hand, flop control points
come with an overhead of an extra flop.

Observability: By observability, we mean out ability to measure the state of a


logic signal. When we say that a node is observable, we mean that the value at
the node can be shifted out through scan patterns and can be observed through
scan out ports.

What if a node is not observable: If a node is not observable, it means we


cannot see the value at the node and it is not possible to see the value at that
node through targeted number of patterns. To have scan coverage for the node,
it is necessary to be observable. As in the case of less number of controllable
nodes, if number of observable nodes is less, it means less scan coverage. So,
less number of observable nodes also means less reliable devices. There may
be many cases in which we cannot observe a node. The most common are the
nodes connected to inputs of an analog block not having a scan chain inside.
Since, analog blocks do not have scan chains, the input nodes cannot be
observed in the normal scenario which renders the entire fanin logic unobserved.

Figure 3: Figure showing a non-observable node

How a node can be made observable: To improve the observability of nodes in


the design, observe points are inserted. An observe point is a flip-flop inserted in
the design that observes the value at one or more point. It has no functional
purpose. It is inserted in the scan chain and shifts the observed data to scan out
ports through scan shifting. A flip flop inserted as observe point can be used to
observe a large number of hard-to-detect faults which results in a significant
reduction in pattern count.
Figure 4 : Inserting observe point to enhance observability

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