A Built-in Self-Test Circuitry Based on Reconfiguration for Analog and Mixed-Signal IC

Application of built-in self-test circuitries allows to improve the testing quality and reliability of complex analog and mixed-signal IC. BIST-circuitry is integrated to original circuit for the purpose of test signal generation, measurement of output responses and decision-making about correctness of circuit under test functioning. The most part of BIST-circuitries for analog and mixed-signal IC uses generators of sine wave or multifrequency wave for test signal generation, but it is not applicable for majority of practical implementations because of crucial increasing the chip area required for in-circuit realization of generator. The built-in self test circuitry for analog and mixed-signal IC based on reconfiguring original circuit in oscillator, which does not need the generator of input test signals, has been proposed. The principles of functioning and main components of the solution have been considered. The correct and incorrect behaviour of analog subcircuit is reflected in digital way by logical 0 or 1. The proposed circuitry provides possibility for joint testing analog and digital subcircuits of mixed-signal IC. The experimental results for benchmark second-order active filter demonstrating high efficiency of proposed BIST-circuitry have been represented. The fault coverage obtained by application of proposed BIST-circuitry is not inferior to results of other authors for the same filter, but measuring and estimation of output responses are performed in-circuit.