High-Level Implementation-Independent Functional Software-Based Self-Test for RISC Processors

The paper proposes a novel high-level approach for implementation-independent generation of functional software-based self test programs for processors with RISC architectures. The approach enables fast generation of manufacturing tests with high stuck-at fault coverage. The main concept of the method is based on separate test generation for the control and data parts of the high-level functional units. For the control part, a novel high-level control fault model is introduced whereas for the data part, pseudo-exhaustive test approaches can be applied to keep the independence from the implementation details. For the control parts, a novel high-level fault simulation method is proposed for evaluating the high-level fault coverage. The approach can be used for easy identification of redundant gate-level faults in the control part. The redundant faults can be identified by simple gate-level fault simulation of the generated high-level test when implementation is available. Experimental results of test generation for different units of a RISC processor support the solutions presented in the paper.