Method and apparatus to facilitate self-testing of a system on a chip

• US 6,857,092 B1
• Filed: 05/25/2001
• Issued: 02/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fox, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, David
• Application Number:
  US09/866,080
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 395/183.06, 714/736, 714/741, 714/724, 714/733, 714/732, 326/41, 326/39
• US Class Current: 714/733
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/318516 Test of programmable logic devices [PLDs]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing a system-on-a-chip comprising a processor and a configurable system logic (CSL) including a plurality of banks arranged in an array coupled to the processor. The system on a chip further includes a built-in self test (BIST) mechanism coupled to the CSL to perform tests on the CSL to verify that the banks and interconnections between the banks are functioning properly.

Claims

1. A system-on-a-chip comprising:

a processor;

a configurable system logic (CSL) including a plurality of banks arranged in an array coupled to the processor; and

a built-in self test (BIST) mechanism coupled to the CSL to perform tests on the CSL to verify that the banks and interconnections between the banks are functioning properly; and

a test isolation signal to isolate a portion of the CSL during testing.

2. The system-on-a-chip of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of vertical breaker tiles within the CSL; and

a linear feedback shift register associated with each of the plurality of vertical breaker tiles to calculate a CRC of data from observation nodes within the CSL, to verify that the CSL is performing as expected.

3. The system-on-a-chip of claim 2, further comprising:

a plurality of observation capture cells to capture results from the tests;

wherein the corruption comprises one or more memory cells that store data incorrectly.

4. The system-on-a-chip of claim 1, further comprising:

a mechanism to provide test data for one block within one bank of the CSL; and

the BIST mechanism to replicate the test data to provide the test data to all banks and all tiles of the CSL.

5. The system-on-a-chip of claim 4, wherein the mechanism comprises a signal received from an external tester with the test data.

6. The system-on-a-chip of claim 4, wherein the mechanism comprises Read Only Memory (ROM) internal to the system-on-a-chip, the ROM storing the test data.

7. The system-on-a-chip of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of multiplexers, each multiplexer receiving a plurality of signals from a plurality of lines;

a plurality of switches driven by a test isolation signal, to isolate the plurality of signals from and to a multiplexer currently being tested; and

a logic to test whether data driven into the multiplexer currently being tested is accurately driven through the multiplexer.

8. The system-on-a-chip of claim 7, wherein the switches comprise a plurality of transistors inline with the plurality of lines, the gate of the transistors controlled by the test isolation signal.

9. The system-on-a-chip of claim 7, wherein the logic comprises a ZIP switch tester comprising:

a drive logic to drive a logical one or a logical zero through a ZIP switch; and

a configurable capture memory to capture an output of an AND and an OR logic to determine whether the signals driven by the drive logic were successfully transmitted.

10. The system-on-a-chip of claim 9, further comprising a latch interposed between the configurable capture memory and the AND gate and the OR gate, to capture the outputs of the AND and the OR gates at a proper time.

11. The system-on-a-chip of claim 9, wherein the configurable capture memory uses an identical structure to memory in the system-on-a-chip, such that layout elements may be reused.

12. A method of testing a system-on-a-chip including a processor and a configurable system logic (CSL), the method comprising:

performing a plurality of tests on the CSL using vector arrays to write data, to verify that banks and interconnections between the banks are functioning;

generating a single cyclic redundancy check (CRC) output of the tests; and

if the CRC result corresponds to an expected result, passing the system-on-a-chip.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

calculating intermediate CRC values in linear feedback shift registers associated with each of a plurality of vertical breaker tiles.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing test data for one block within one bank of the CSL; and

replicating the test data to provide the test data to all banks and all tiles of the CSL.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the providing test data comprises receiving a signal from an external tester with the test data.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

isolating a plurality multiplexers, retaining one non-isolated multiplexer in a memory bank;

testing whether data driven into the non-isolated multiplexer currently being tested is accurately driven through the multiplexer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein isolating the multiplexers comprises inputting a test isolation signal to a gate of a transistor for each of the plurality of lines coupled to the plurality of multiplexers.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising testing a ZIP switch, comprising:

driving a logical one or a logical zero through the ZIP switch; and

capturing an output of an AND logic and an OR logic in a configurable capture memory to determine whether the signals driven by the drive logic were successfully transmitted.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein configurable capture memories to capture the outputs of the tests use an identical structure to memory in the system-on-a-chip, such that layout elements may be reused.

20. A method of testing a system-on-a-chip including a processor and a configurable system logic, the method comprising:

testing configuration memory by writing to each memory location, and performing a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on a result;

testing multiplexers (MUXes) by;

isolating a plurality of the MUXes;

driving signals to an un-isolated MUX; and

reading an output of the MUX to verify a test result.

21. A system-on-a-chip including self-test capabilities, the system-on-a-chip comprising:

a processor;

a configurable system logic (CSL) including a plurality of banks arranged in an array coupled to the processor; and

a built-in self test (BIST) mechanism coupled to the CSL to perform tests on the CSL to verify that the banks and interconnections between the banks are functioning properly, the BIST mechanism including;

a master copy of data to be written to a plurality of locations; and

a reproduction mechanism to write slave copies across the entire CSL from the master copy, using vectors to perform a broadcast write.