A systematic approach to defining the structure of a test suite for the NELSIS IC design system

The systematic testing of a large CAD tool-set requires a complex collection of tests called a test-suite. The test-suite is managed and driven by a test system (harness). The goal is to reduce the effort involved in the definition of the test-suite through a systematic approach. In the present approach a type of composite test called a device test which is constructed of primitive tests is described. This enables splitting the test-suite definition into two activities: the definition of the test structure for each device test, and the definition of the structural relations between the device test. The advantage of this approach is that each device test may be constructed and executed independently. This enhances the modularity of the architecture by reducing the dependencies in the test suite. The emphasis is on the structural relations between the device tests. A protocol for defining the structural relations is proposed, and the protocol´s usefulness is demonstrated by applying it to a real-life situation, namely, defining a test structure for the NELSIS IC Design System