A Functional Self-Test Approach for Peripheral Cores in Processor-Based SoCs

Functional Software-Based Self-Testing (SBST) of microprocessors and processor-based testing of Systems-on- Chip (SoCs) have recently attracted the attention of test technology research community because they provide an effective alternative to other traditional testing and self- testing approaches. SBST allows at-speed functional testing of SoC cores with virtually no circuit overhead and limited dependence on external testers. Despite the importance of peripheral control cores in SoCs (in terms of functionality and size), the applicability and limits of SBST on them have not been comprehensively studied. In this paper, we study the effectiveness of SBST on a broad class of communication peripherals. A systematic application of SBST on two popular peripheral cores (UART and Ethernet) demonstrates the effectiveness of SBST on SoCs with such cores.