Design automation tools for built-in self-test implementations

A suite of computer-aided design (CAD) tools is described which were developed for the automatic insertion of three different versions of circular built-in self-test (BIST) in digital circuit designs. The CAD tools operate either on a netlist or VHDL description of the circuit such that the final circuit description, complete with the circular BIST logic, can be implemented in digital application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).