Digital Testing:

Scan-Path Design

07/03/16

Based on text by S. Mourad

"Priciples of Electronic Systems"

Outline
Problems with sequential testing
What is scan
Types of scan
Types of storage devices
Scan Architectures
Cost of Scan
Partial Scan

Problems with Sequential Machine Testing

Complexity of testing sequential circuits
due to
feedback loops
placement of the circuit in a known state
high chance for hazard, essential hazard

Timing problems

The Scan-path Technique

Scan-path design is to reduce test generation
complexity for circuit containing storage devices
and feedback path with combinational logic
The philosophy is to divide & conquer with the
purpose to :
1. Set any internal state easily
2. Observe any state through a distinguishing
sequence

What is Scan Design

This DFT technique is used mainly for testable
synchronous circuit
We assume the use of D-flip-flops only
A mux is placed at the input of each flip-flop
in such a way that all flip-flops can be
connected in a shift register for one mux
selection and to work in a normal mode in the
other

Adding Scan Structure

PI

PO
Combinational

SFF

logic

SFF

SCANOUT

SFF

TC or TCK
SCANIN

SFFs (scan Flipflops)

Not shown: CK

Connect the SFF in a shift register and test

them

Testing strategy
Principle of scan path
Each input to the
FF is considered
an output of the
combinatorial
circuit
each output of the
FF is an input to
the circuit

Testing strategy
Example:
A realization for the double-throw switch

Internal state can be determined via the scan-out

output.

The procedure for circuit testing :

1. Set c =1 to switch the circuit to shift register mode
2. Check operation as a shift register by using
scan-in inputs , scan-out output and the clock
3. Set the initial state of the shift register
4. Set c = 0 to return to normal mode
5. Apply test input pattern to the combinational logic
6. Set c=1 to return to shift register mode
7. Shift out the final state while setting the starting
state for the next test
8. Go to step 4.

Testing the Combinational Part

Repeat until all patterns are applied.
a. Set SE = 1, shift in the initial values on the flipflops.
(These are the signals at the output of the
latches for the first test pattern.)
b. SE = 0, apply a pattern at the primary inputs.
c. Clock the circuit once and observe the results
at the primary outputs.
d. Clock the circuit M times.

End repeat.

An Example
Combinational Circuit
y2
F

G1

F
y1

G2

G3

D
2

1
Clk

Clk

Clk

Inserting the Muxes

Combinational Circuit
y2
G1

F
y1
0
1

D
1
Clk

Clk

Scan-in

G3

G2

0
1

Z
0
1
D

Q
2

Clk

Scan-out

Types of Storage Devices

Multiplexed input flip-flop
Two-port flip-flop works with two
nonoverlapping clocks
Latch-based Scan Design: requires
2-latches clocked with non-overlapping clocks
3-latch clocked with three phases

Scan Design Architectures

Several architectures:
Multiplexed flip-flops design
Level-sensitive scan design
Scan set scan design

Derivative of scan design:

Parallel scan chains
Partial scan

Level Sensitive Scan Design LSSD (IBM)

Level sensitive means that state changes in FSM
are independent of delays nor order of changes
in input signals (if inputs are set to new values)
Scan is ability to shift into or out of any state
All internal storage is implemented using hazard
free polarity-hold switches

Level-sensitive Latch
The latch works with the 3
phases A, B and C
For normal operation,
clocks B and C

D
C
L1

SCAN-IN

For shift operation, clocks

B and A
Two-port flip-flop works
with two non-overlapping
clocks

L1

L2
B
(b)

L2

Polarity Hold Latch (IBM)

D
L1

L2

C
Scan-in

SCAN-IN

D
C

L1

L1

L2

B
B
(a)
A

(b)

L2

LSSD design rules

Storage is implemented by hazard free
polarity-hold latches
latches controlled by non-overlapping clocks
clock inputs to SRLs must be easily controlled
clock feeds clock inputs only
all SRL must be connected into shift registers
input sensitizing conditions

Level-Sensitive Scan-Design Latch

Master latch

Slave latch

D
Q

MCK

Q
D flip-flop

SD

MCK

TCK

overhead

TCK
MCK
TCK

Scan
mode

Logic

Normal
mode

SCK

SCK

LSSD: Testing
Repeat until all patterns are applied.
a. Apply a pattern at the primary inputs.
b. Clock C; then clock B once and observe the results at
the primary outputs.
c. Shift out the response
Apply the initialization for the next pattern at SI.
Clock A, then clock B, M times.
Observe at the primary outputs and the SO pins.

Multiple Scan Chains

Instead of stringing all the flip-flops or the
latches in one shift register
Partition them is several chains
The advantages are:
compatible with multiple clock designs
Shorten test application time
Simplify the stitching of the flip-flops

But, may require extra pins

The Cost of Scan Design

Area (muxes, extra routing)
Additional I/Os
Performance, delays within the flip-flops
Heat when testing at speed

Multiple Scan Registers

Scan flip-flops can be distributed among any number
of shift registers, each having a separate scanin and
scanout pin.
Test sequence length is determined by the longest
scan shift register.
Just one test control (TC) pin is essential.
PI/SCANIN

Combinational
logic
SFF
SFF

TC
CK

SFF

M
U
X

PO/
SCANOUT

Scan Overhead
IO pins: One pin necessary.
Area overhead:
Gate overhead = [4 nf/(ng+10nf)] x 100%,
where ng = comb. gates; nf = flip-flops;
Example
ng = 100k gates, nf = 2k flip-flops, overhead = 6.7%.

More accurate estimate must consider scan wiring

and layout area.

Performance overhead:
Multiplexer delay added in combinational path;
approx. two gate-delays.
Flip-flop output loading due to one additional
fanout; approx. 5-6%.

Hierarchical Scan
Scan flip-flops are chained within
subnetworks before chaining subnetworks.
Advantages:
Automatic scan insertion in netlist
Circuit hierarchy preserved helps in debugging and
design changes

Disadvantage: Non-optimum chip layout.

Scanin

SFF4

SFF1

Scanout
Scanin

SFF2

SFF3

Hierarchical netlist

SFF1

SFF3
Scanout

SFF4

SFF2

Flat layout

Scan Area Overhead

Linear dimensions of active area:
X = (C + S) / r
X = (C + S + aS) / r
Y = Y + ry = Y + Y(1--b) / T
Area overhead
XY--XY
= -------------- x 100%
XY
1--b
= [(1+as)(1+ -------) 1] x
100%
T
1--b
= (as + ------- ) x 100%

y = track dimension, wire

width+separation
C = total comb. cell width
S = total non-scan FF cell
width
s = fractional FF cell area
= S/(C+S)
a = SFF cell width fractional
increase
r = number of cell rows
or routing channels
b = routing fraction in active
area
T = cell height in track
dimension y

Example: Scan Layout

2,000-gate CMOS chip
Fractional area under flip-flop cells, s = 0.478
Scan flip-flop (SFF) cell width increase, = 0.25
Routing area fraction, = 0.471
Cell height in routing tracks, T = 10
Calculated overhead = 17.24%
Actual measured data:
Scan implementation
Area overhead
Normalized clock rate
______________________________________________________________________
None

0.0

1.00

Hierarchical

16.93%

0.87

Optimum layout

11.90%

0.91

ATPG Example: S5378

Original
Number of combinational gates
Number of non-scan flip-flops (10 gates each)
Number of scan flip-flops (14 gates each)
Gate overhead
Number of faults
PI/PO for ATPG
Fault coverage
Fault efficiency
CPU time on SUN Ultra II, 200MHz processor
Number of ATPG vectors
Scan sequence length

2,781
179
0
0.0%
4,603
35/49
70.0%
70.9%
5,533 s
414
414

Full-scan
2,781
0
179
15.66%
4,603
214/228
99.1%
100.0%
5s
585
105,662

Automated Scan Design

Rule
violations

Behavior, RTL, and logic

Design and verification
Scan design
rule audits

Combinational
ATPG

Gate-level
netlist

Develop test

Develop design
Scan hardware
insertion

Scan
netlist

Combinational
vectors
Scan sequence
and test program
generation

Test program

Scan chain order

Design and test
data for
manufacturing

Chip layout: Scanchain optimization,

timing verification

Mask data

Timing and Power

Small delays in scan path and clock skew
can cause race condition.
Large delays in scan path require slower
scan clock.
Dynamic multiplexers: Skew between TC
and TC signals can cause momentary
shorting of D and SD inputs.
Random signal activity in combinational
circuit during scan can cause excessive
power dissipation.

Scan Summary
Scan is the most popular DFT technique:
Rule-based design
Automated DFT hardware insertion
Combinational ATPG

Advantages:
Design automation
High fault coverage; helpful in diagnosis
Hierarchical scan-testable modules are easily combined
into large scan-testable systems
Moderate area (~10%) and speed (~5%) overhead

Disadvantages:
Large test data volume and long test time
Basically a slow speed (DC) test

Overview: Partial-Scan & Scan Variations

Definition
Partial-scan architecture
Scan flip-flop selection methods
Cyclic and acyclic structures
Partial-scan by cycle-breaking
Scan variations
Scan-hold flip-flop (SHFF)
Summary

Partial-Scan Definition
A subset of flip-flops is scanned.
Objectives:
Minimize area overhead and scan sequence
length, yet achieve required fault coverage
Exclude selected flip-flops from scan:
Improve performance
Allow limited scan design rule violations

Allow automation:
In scan flip-flop selection
In test generation

Shorter scan sequences

Partial-Scan Architecture
PI

PO
Combinational
circuit

CK1
FF
CK2

FF
SCANOUT
SFF

TC
SFF
SCANIN

What & Why Partial Scan Design

To scan only a subset of the flip-flops
The circuit is easier to test by the sequential
ATPG.
The area overhead is minimized.
The placement of the flip-flops is such that
the interconnects are minimized.
The delays are shortened.

Partial Scan Design

To scan only a subset of the flip-flops
How to select this subset?
It is an NP-complete problem
Heuristics on graph model to select the
minimum feedback vertex set (MFVS) to
transform the FSM into an acyclic graph

Scan Flip-Flop Selection Methods

Testability measure based
Use of SCOAP: limited success.

Structure based:
Cycle breaking
Balanced structure
Sometimes requires high scan percentage

ATPG based:
Use of combinational and sequential TG

Cycle Breaking
Difficulties in ATPG
S-graph construction and
MFVS problem
Test generation and test
statistics
Partial vs. full scan
Partial-scan flip-flop

Difficulties in Seq. ATPG

Poor initializability.
Poor controllability/observability of state
variables.
Gate count, number of flip-flops, and sequential
depth do not explain the problem.
Cycles are mainly responsible for complexity.
An ATPG experiment:
Circuit

Number of
gates

Number of
flip-flops

Sequential
depth

TLC

355

21

14*

1,112

39

14

Chip A

ATPG
CPU s

Fault
coverage

1,247

89.01%

269

98.80%

* Maximum number of flip-flops on a PI to PO path

Benchmark Circuits
Circuit
PI
PO
FF
Gates
Structure
Sequential depth
Total faults
Detected faults
Potentially detected faults
Untestable faults
Abandoned faults
Fault coverage (%)
Fault efficiency (%)
Max. sequence length
Total test vectors
Gentest CPU s (Sparc 2)

s1196
14
14
18
529
Cycle-free
4
1242
1239
0
3
0
99.8
100.0
3
313
10

s1238
14
14
18
508
Cycle-free
4
1355
1283
0
72
0
94.7
100.0
3
308
15

s1488
8
19
6
653
Cyclic
-1486
1384
2
26
76
93.1
94.8
24
525
19941

s1494
8
19
6
647
Cyclic
-1506
1379
2
30
97
91.6
93.4
28
559
19183

Relevant Results
Theorem 8.1: A cycle-free circuit is always
initializable. It is also initializable in the
presence of any non-flip-flop fault.
Theorem 8.2: Any non-flip-flop fault in a cyclefree circuit can be detected by at most dseq +
1 vectors (dseq is the sequential depth).
ATPG complexity: To determine that a fault is
untestable in a cyclic circuit, an ATPG program
using nine-valued logic may have to analyze
9Nf time-frames, where Nf is the number of
flip-flops in the circuit.

Cycle-Free Example
Circuit
F2
2
F3

F1
Level = 1

s - graph

F2
2
F1

F3

Level = 1

dseq = 3

All faults are testable. See Example 8.6.

A Partial-Scan Method
Select a minimal set of flip-flops for
scan to eliminate all cycles.
Alternatively, to keep the overhead low
only long cycles may be eliminated.
In some circuits with a large number of
self-loops, all cycles other than selfloops may be eliminated.

The MFVS Problem

For a directed graph find a set of vertices with
smallest cardinality such that the deletion of this
vertex-set makes the graph acyclic.
The minimum feedback vertex set (MFVS) problem
is NP-complete; practical solutions use heuristics.
A secondary objective of minimizing the depth of
acyclic graph is useful.
3

L=3
1

4
L=1

A 6-flip-flop circuit

s-graph

L=2

Test Generation
Scan and non-scan flip-flops are controlled from
separate clock PIs:
Normal mode Both clocks active
Scan mode Only scan clock active

Seq. ATPG model:

Scan flip-flops replaced by PI and PO
Seq. ATPG program used for test generation
Scan register test sequence, 001100, of length nsf + 4
applied in the scan mode
Each ATPG vector is preceded by a scan-in sequence to set
scan flip-flop states
A scan-out sequence is added at the end of each vector
sequence

Test length = (nATPG + 2) nsf + nATPG + 4 clocks

Partial Scan Example

Circuit: TLC
355 gates
21 flip-flops
Scan
Max. cycle Depth* ATPG
flip-flops
length
CPU s

Fault sim. Fault

CPU s
cov.

ATPG Test seq.

vectors
length

14

1,247

61

89.01%

805

805

10

157

11

95.90%

247

1,249

32

99.20%

136

1,382

10

13

100.00%

112

1,256

21

100.00%

52

1,190

* Cyclic paths ignored

Partial vs. Full Scan: S5378

Number of combinational gates
Number of non-scan flip-flops
(10 gates each)
Number of scan flip-flops
(14 gates each)
Gate overhead
Number of faults
PI/PO for ATPG
Fault coverage
Fault efficiency
CPU time on SUN Ultra II
200MHz processor
Number of ATPG vectors
Scan sequence length

Original

Partial-scan

Full-scan

2,781
179

2,781
149

2,781
0

30

179

0.0%
4,603
35/49
70.0%
70.9%
5,533 s
414
414

2.63%
4,603
65/79
93.7%
99.5%
727 s
1,117
34,691

15.66%
4,603
214/228
99.1%
100.0%
5s
585
105,662

Flip-flop for Partial Scan

Normal scan flip-flop (SFF) with multiplexer of
the LSSD flip-flop is used.
Scan flip-flops require a separate clock control:
D
MUX
SD

Master
latch

TC

Slave
latch
SFF
(Scan flip-flop)

CK
TC
CK
Normal mode

Scan mode

Scan Variations
Integrated and Isolated scan
methods
Scan path: NEC 1968
Serial scan: 1973
LSSD: IBM 1977
Scan set: Univac 1977
RAS: Fujitsu/Amdahl 1980

Random-Access Scan (RAS)

PI

PO
Combinational
logic
RAM
nff

CK
TC
SCANIN

bits

SCANOUT

SEL
Address decoder
ADDRESS
ACK

Address scan
register
log2 nff bits

RAS Flip-Flop (RAM Cell)

From comb. logic
SCANIN

D
SD

Q
Scan flip-flop
(SFF)

To comb.
logic

CK
TC

SEL

SCANOUT

RAS Applications
Logic test:
reduced test length.

Delay test:
Easy to generate single-input-change (SIC) delay tests.

Advantage:
RAS may be suitable for certain architecture, e.g.,
where memory is implemented as a RAM block.

Disadvantages:
Not suitable for random logic architecture
High overhead gates added to SFF, address
decoder, address register, extra pins and routing

Scan-Hold Flip-Flop (SHFF)

To SD of
next SHFF

SD
TC

SFF
Q

CK

HOLD

The control input HOLD keeps the output

steady at previous state of flip-flop.
Applications:
Reduce power dissipation during scan
Isolate asynchronous parts during scan test
Delay testing

Partial Scan Summary

Partial-scan is a generalized scan method;
scan can vary from 0 to 100%.
Elimination of long cycles can improve
testability via sequential ATPG.
Elimination of all cycles and self-loops
allows combinational ATPG.
Partial-scan has lower overheads (area
and delay) and reduced test length.
Partial-scan allows limited violations of
scan design rules, e.g., a flip-flop on a
critical path may not be scanned.