On test and diagnostics of flash memories

Author

Huang, Chih-Tsun ; Yeh, Jen-Chieh ; Shih, Yuan-Yuan ; Huang, Rei-Fu ; Wu, Cheng-Wen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., National Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan

fYear

2004

fDate

15-17 Nov. 2004

Firstpage

260

Lastpage

265

Abstract

Embedded flash memory has been widely used in applications that require non-volatile on-chip storage elements. However, test and diagnostics of flash memories needs further investigation so that the overall cost of the products can be reduced. This paper presents the challenges and issues for test and diagnostics of flash memories, based on our recent experiences. We also suggest improvement of the test and diagnosis flow, including design-for-testability (DFT) using built-in self-test (BIST), built-in self-repair (BISR), and failure analysis. In addition, we present a configurable flash memory tester using FPGA for low-cost testing and diagnostics. Experimental results on industrial flash chips justify the effectiveness of our test and diagnostics system.

Keywords

built-in self test; design for testability; failure analysis; flash memories; integrated circuit testing; integrated memory circuits; FPGA; built-in self-repair; built-in self-test; design-for-testability; failure analysis; flash memories testing; flash memory diagnosis; industrial flash chips; nonvolatile on-chip storage elements; Algorithm design and analysis; Automatic testing; Built-in self-test; Costs; Flash memory; Manufacturing; Nonvolatile memory; Random access memory; System testing; System-on-a-chip;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Test Symposium, 2004. 13th Asian

ISSN

1081-7735

Print_ISBN

0-7695-2235-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ATS.2004.65

Filename

1376568