Digital Circuit Testing

Book excerpt: Recent technological advances have created a testing crisis in the electronics industry--smaller, more highly integrated electronic circuits and new packaging techniques make it increasingly difficult to physically access test nodes. New testing methods are needed for the next generation of electronic equipment and a great deal of emphasis is being placed on the development of these methods. Some of the techniques now becoming popular include design for testability (DFT), built-in self-test (BIST), and automatic test vector generation (ATVG). This book will provide a practical introduction to these and other testing techniques. For each technique introduced, the author provides real-world examples so the reader can achieve a working knowledge of how to choose and apply these increasingly important testing methods.