Efficiency Evaluation of Various Test Strategies on a Mixed–signal Circuit

In this paper, an analysis comparing the efficiency of different test strategies on a moderate complexity mixedsignal circuit is presented. Selected test strategies from the groups of functional, structural and parametric approaches were applied for the circuit test while considering bridging faults introduced into the circuit layout. The faults were extracted from the layout of the circuit. Fault simulation results are shown, where fault coverage, efficiency and quality of the respective test methods have been evaluated. Results show that the parametric and structural approaches are offering higher test quality (fault coverage, multiple and unique detections, test time) than the functional approach. In addition, the functional approach requires a rather complicated test setup. A short discussion on the possible benefits of a DfT deployment is also given.