Solutions to these problems: DFT

Testing does not come for free. Modern microprocessors contain more than 1000 pins.
They pack a myriad of functionalities inside them. If any single transistor inside
a chip becomes faulty, then the whole chip needs to be discarded. We, consumers, do
not expect faulty chips from manufacturers. But identifying that one single
defective transistor out of billions is a headache. We may need to test every
functionality with every possible combination. If testing is done that way, then
the time-to-market would be so high that the chips may never reach the consumers.
So, how do we tackle this? We use a methodology to add a feature to these chips.
The methodology is called DFT; short for Design for Testability. And the feature it
adds to a chip is ‘testability.’Role of DFT
Testing of Sequential Circuits
DFT offers a solution to the issue of testing sequential circuits. It’s kind of
hard to test sequential circuits. Since there are clocks involved along with the
flip-flops.

Unlike combinational circuits, we can’t determine the output of sequential circuits

by merely looking into the inputs. Sequential circuits consist of finite states by
virtue of flip-flops. The output also depends upon the state of the machine. It is
difficult to control and observe the internal flip-flops externally.

Hence, the state machines cannot be tested unless they are initialized to a known
value. And to initialize them, we need a specific set of features in addition to
the typical circuitry. DFT enables us to add this functionality to a sequential
circuit and thus allows us to test it.

Improving the chip manufacturing process

DFT accomplishes two significant goals in the chip manufacturing process:

Reject Defective Modules (Product Quality)

Testing checks the errors in the manufacturing process that are creating faults in
the chips being designed. If faults can be detected earlier, then the underlying
process causing the faults can be discarded at that point. This saves time and
money as the faulty chips can be discarded even before they are manufactured.

Monitor and Improve Manufacturing Process

Testing is applied at every phase or level of abstraction from RTL to ASIC flow.
This identifies the stage when the process variables move outside acceptable
values. This simplifies failure analysis by identifying the probable defect
location. Meticulous monitoring improves process-line accuracy and decreases the
fault occurrence probability.