Defect Oriented Analog Testing: Strengths and Weaknesses

In this article, we investigate the potential of process defect oriented test methods over analog circuits. Large number of simulations and tested silicon devices bring out the potential of simple, defect based, non-specification oriented test methods for analog testing. The carried out study also demonstrates that a small number of parametric failures are not caught by the method. Therefore, the method is supplemented by very limited specification testing to catch such failures. As a result, the overall test quality is improved while the test cost is reduce.