Patent Abstract:
Disclosed are novel methods and apparatus for efficiently providing concurrently programmable dynamic memory built-in self-testing (BIST). In an embodiment of the present invention, a method of utilizing a BIST system is disclosed. The method includes: loading setup data into a configuration register; loading a first instruction into a shift register; loading the first instruction into an update register; executing the loaded first instruction to perform a memory test; upon receiving a first update command, loading a second instruction into the shift register; and upon receiving a second update command, loading the second instruction into the update register.

Full Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention generally relates to the field of circuit testing. More specifically, an embodiment of the present invention provides concurrently programmable dynamic built-in-self-test (BIST) of memory.  
         BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0002]    As the complexity of integrated circuits (ICs) increases and access to their internal circuit nodes becomes harder, properly testing such devices becomes a major bottleneck during their prototyping, development, production, and maintenance. As a result, designs with BIST implementation have become commonplace. In a BIST implementation, circuitry (which is intended solely to support testing) is included in an IC or in a system including ICs.  
           [0003]    The current generation of products involves integrating high numbers of memory modules. With the increasing need for bandwidth, the trend is to also increase the memory size. The resulting technology, in response to the challenge of integrating memory modules with increased sizes, introduces new failure modes. Because it is currently hard to predefine the type of defects, which can appear in these memory arrays, the current state of the art involves implementing several algorithms on chip, such as March C, checkerboard, and address uniqueness. This approach, however, can only provide a temporary solution since as the technology progresses the BIST algorithms need to be redesigned to take new memory defects into consideration as well as new requirements such as the need to initialize a particular array. Accordingly, this approach can be very expensive (e.g., in terms of development) and is partially ineffective (especially for memory modules that have already been fabricated).  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0004]    The present invention includes novel methods and apparatus to efficiently provide concurrently programmable dynamic BIST of memory. In an embodiment of the present invention, a method of utilizing a built-in self-testing (BIST) system is disclosed. The method includes: loading setup data into a configuration register; loading a first instruction into a shift register; loading the first instruction into an update register; executing the loaded first instruction to perform a memory test; upon receiving a first update command, loading a second instruction into the shift register; and upon receiving a second update command, loading the second instruction into the update register.  
           [0005]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the first update command may be received during an execution of the first instruction.  
           [0006]    In a further embodiment of the present invention, the second update command may be received after a completion of the first instruction execution.  
           [0007]    In yet another embodiment of the present invention, one or more of the loading acts may be performed by a BIST controller.  
           [0008]    In a different embodiment of the present invention, the method may further include decoding the first instruction prior to performing the memory test.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The present invention may be better understood and its numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary high-level BIST system  100  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary instruction register  200  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary BIST operation method  300  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
       [0013]    The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    In the following description, numerous details are set forth. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures, devices, and techniques have not been shown in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the understanding of the description. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.  
         [0015]    Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least an embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.  
         [0016]    To provide access to BIST functionality on a chip, a test access port (TAP) may be utilized. TAP can be a general-purpose port that provides access to test support functions built into a component (such as that of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1149.1 standard). Further information regarding the IEEE 1149.1 standard interface may be found in IEEE Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture, IEEE Std. 1149.1-1990 (includes IEEE Std. 1149.1a-1993), Chapter 3, entitled “The Test Access Port,” which is hereby incorporated herein for all purposes.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary high-level BIST system  100  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the arrows shown in FIG. 1 indicate the direction of data flow. The BIST system  100  includes a configuration register  102 , a data generator  104 , a BIST controller  106 , an address generator  108 , a response checker  110 , and an instruction register  112 . The configuration register  102  receives data from a TAP controller (not shown) and sends data to one or more of the data generator  104 , BIST controller  106 , and address generator  108 . As illustrated in FIG. 1, the data generator  104  receives data from the BIST controller and sends data to a memory module. The BIST controller  106  sends and receives data from the address generator  108 , which, in turn, may communicate with the memory module. The response checker  110  is envisioned to compare the memory response to an expected response.  
         [0018]    Furthermore, the response checker  110  receives data from the memory module and the data generator  104  and sends data to the BIST controller  106 . The instruction register  112  receives data from the TAP controller, and sends and receives data to the BIST controller  106 . Accordingly, the TAP controller may directly access the instruction register  112  and the configuration register  102 , while the memory module receives data from the data generator  104  and/or the address generator  108 . It is envisioned that in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the BIST system  100  may be utilized for testing memory such as read-only memories (ROMs), random-access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs), electrically EPROMs (EEPROMs), internal/external cache, flash memory, or other types of memory module suitable for storing electronic instructions and/or data.  
         [0019]    In an embodiment of the present invention, a standard IEEE 1149.1 configuration register  102  may be used to program the BIST system  100 , for example, by utilizing a serial link synchronized to the internal core clock. In an embodiment of the present invention, it is envisioned that other types of links may be utilized to program the BIST system  100  such as Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, wireless, modem, cellular, universal serial bus (USB and its varieties such as USB II), and/or FireWire. In one embodiment of the present invention, the BIST system  100  may be implemented inside any application specific IC (ASIC) such as a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU may be a SPARC microprocessor available from several vendors (including Sun Microsystems of Santa Clara, Calif.).  
         [0020]    Those with ordinary skill in the art understand, however, that any type of a CPU may be utilized to embody the present invention, including those made by Hewlett Packard of Palo Alto, Calif., and IBM-compatible personal computers utilizing Intel microprocessor, which are available from several vendors (including IBM of Armonk, N.Y.). In addition, instead of a single processor, two or more processors (whether on a single chip or on separate chips) can be utilized. It is further envisioned that the CPU may be a complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, a processor implementing a combination of instruction sets, and the like.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary instruction register  200  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the arrows shown in FIG. 2 indicate the direction of data flow. In a further embodiment of the present invention, the instruction register  200  may be the instruction register  112  of FIG. 1. The instruction register  200  includes a shift register  202  and an update register  204 . The shift register  202  receives data from the TAP controller (not shown) and provides data to the update register  204 . The update register also receives data from a BIST controller (such as the BIST controller  106  of FIG. 1). The update register  204  sends data to a BIST controller (such as the BIST controller  106  of FIG. 1).  
         [0022]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the shift register  202  and the update register  204  may be five bits wide each. For example, three bits may be utilized for March element, one bit for up/down, and one bit for inversion. The shift register  202  (or instruction shift register (ISR)) may be used to program on the fly from a chip test interface (such as an IEEE 1149.1 TAP controller) an instruction to be executed next while the current instruction is executing. In one embodiment of the present invention, the ISR may be located inside the test controller&#39;s clock domain (i.e., low frequency). The update register  204  (or dynamic instruction register (DIR)) may hold the instruction that is being executed. Furthermore, the BIST kernel may contain a finite state machine (FSM) to decide the instruction and send the control signals to the BIST address generator (such as  108  of FIG. 1), data generator (such as  104  of FIG. 1), and data comparator (e.g., to compare expected data and data received from the memory module being tested). In one embodiment of the present invention, the data comparator may be implemented inside the response checker. When the execution of an instruction is near completion, the FSM may send an update signal to the ISR. Upon receipt of the update signal, the content of the ISR register may be loaded into the DIR and the new instruction begins execution.  
         [0023]    In a further embodiment of the present invention, each of the shift register  202  and the update register  204  may be five bits wide. The first three bits may be utilized for March element such as:  
                                           001   W   WO       010   R   RO       011   RW   ROW1       100   WR   W0R0       101   RWR   R0W1R1,                  
 
         [0024]    where R stands for read, W stands for write, WO stands for writing the data background, RO stands for reading the memory value and comparing it to the data background, RW stands for read-write, WR stands for write-read, RWR stands for read-write-read, ROW1 stands for reading the memory value, comparing it to the data background, and writing the inverted data background, WOR0 stands for writing the data background, reading the memory value, and comparing it to the data background, and ROW1R1 stands for reading the memory value, comparing it to the data background, writing the inverted data background, reading the memory value, and comparing it to the inverted data background.  
         [0025]    The forth bit may be utilized for incrementation or decrementation. And the fifth bit may be utilized to select either to write/compare the data background or the inverted value of the background.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary BIST operation method  300  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, the method  300  may be utilized to operate the BIST system  100  of FIG. 1 and/or the instruction register  200  of FIG. 2. The method  300  starts with a stage  302  that loads setup information into a configuration register (such as the configuration register  102  of FIG. 1). The stage  302  may occur after a chip reset in an embodiment of the present invention. The setup information may include data background, address range, checkerboard information, and the like. In one embodiment of the present invention, the loading may be accomplished by a private IEEE 1149.1 instruction.  
         [0027]    In a further embodiment of the present invention, a data background register (not shown) can be coupled to an IEEE 1149.1 standard interface for programming (i.e., input) and connect to the output data of the BIST module (such as the BIST system  100  of FIG. 1). The data background register may hold the bit vector (or its inversion) that is written into the memory by the test algorithm. The width of the data background register can be the same as the data width of the memory, in an embodiment of the present invention. This value may also be used as expected data for comparison with data read from the memory. The data background can be programmable through the IEEE 1149.1 standard interface. This permits the user to perform March and checkerboard test algorithms with different data backgrounds to ensure relatively high-test coverage of the external memory.  
         [0028]    In a further embodiment of the present invention, a second use of the data background register may include testing interconnects. A byproduct of writing the data background vector (held in the data background register) into the memory and later reading it back from the memory, is that the interconnects get tested at the same time. The defects covered by writing/reading a data background vector depends on the bit pattern seen at the interconnects, which in turn depends on the data background bit pattern. Due to the presence of logic (such as error correction code (ECC)) in between the data background register and the interconnects, the bit pattern held in the data background register may not be the same as those seen on the interconnects. In order to get high coverage of interconnect defects, it may therefore be necessary to construct an appropriate set of data background vectors. Given that little is known about the board and system level interconnects when designing a chip, it may be necessary to provide flexibility in defining this data background test suite.  
         [0029]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the BIST system  100  of FIG. 1 may implement true checkerboard pattern testing by, for example, allowing consecutive addresses to write inversions of the programmed data background. In a further embodiment of the present invention, the data backgrounds for testing interconnects and memories may also be programmable. This fulfils requirements associated with high coverage memory tests that are independent of address and data scrambling.  
         [0030]    The method  300  continues with a stage  304 , which shifts the first instruction into an instruction register (such as the instruction register  112  of FIG. 1), for example, by utilizing the IEEE 1149.1 standard interface. The shifting of the first instruction may be accomplished by loading a new private instruction in accordance with the IEEE 1149.1 standard. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first instruction may be shifted into the shift register  202  of FIG. 2. In a stage  306 , the shifted instruction is captured into an update register (such as the update register  204  of FIG. 2), for example, by going into the run-idle state from the IEEE 1149.1 interface. A stage  308  decodes the shifted instruction (e.g., by a decoder coupled to the shift register  202  and the update register  204  (not shown in FIG. 2)). Then, a stage  310  performs the memory test.  
         [0031]    In a stage  312 , it is determined whether an update command has been received. The update command may be issued by an address generator (such as the address generator  108  of FIG. 1) in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In a further embodiment of the present invention, the update command may be issued prior to completion of the first or prior instruction, for example, through detection done by knowing the address range. It is envisioned that in an embodiment of the present invention the update command may be sent to a BIST controller such as the BIST controller  106  of FIG. 1. If it is determined in the stage  312  that the update command is not yet received, the method  300  continues in a stage  314  (which continues the memory testing if not done).  
         [0032]    Once the stage  312  determines that the update command has been received, the method  300  continues with a stage  316 , which shifts the next instruction into the instruction register (such as discussed with respect to the stage  304 ). In a stage  318 , it is determined whether more testing remains. If it is determined that no more testing remains, the method  300  terminates. Otherwise, the method  300  continues with a stage  320 , which determines whether a next update command (such as that discussed with respect to the stage  312 ) is received. If not, the method  300  continues with the stage  318 . Otherwise, the method  300  returns to the stage  306 .  
         [0033]    Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention loads a next instruction to be executed while the current (e.g., first) instruction is being executed. When a BIST controller (such as the BIST controller  106  of FIG. 1) receives an update signal from, for example, an address generator (such as the address generator  108  of FIG. 1), it fetches the next instruction into an update register (such as the update register  204  of FIG. 2) and starts decoding the next instruction. Accordingly, the BIST system discussed herein is envisioned to be programmable on the fly, for example, by using the IEEE.1149 TAP. And, during the execution of a memory test, new instructions may be shifted into the BIST system, which as a consequence may have an unlimited number of March elements encoded in the BIST controller, for example, to allow the generation of complex algorithms.  
         [0034]    The foregoing description has been directed to specific embodiments. It will be apparent to those with ordinary skill in the art that modifications may be made to the described embodiments, with the attainment of all or some of the advantages. For example, the techniques of the present invention may be applied to very large-scale integrated (VLSI) logic and/or circuit modules. In addition, any type of memory or memory interconnect may be tested in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention regardless of the memory&#39;s logic, organization, and/or structure, for example.  
         [0035]    Also, it is envisioned that even though only two registers are shown in the exemplary FIG. 2, additional registers may be utilized. For example, if the preparation (e.g., decoding and loading) stages take longer than the test performance stage, additional registers may be utilized to prepare (e.g., load and decode) more instructions to avoid having wait states. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6