March DSS: A New Diagnostic March Test for All Memory Simple Static Faults

Diagnostic march tests are powerful tests that are capable of detecting and identifying faults in memories. Although march SS was published for detecting simple static faults, no test has been published for identifying all faults possibly present in memory cells. In this paper, we target all published simple static faults. We identify faults that cannot be distinguished due to their analog behavior. We present a new methodology for generating irredundant diagnostic march tests for any desired subset of the simple static faults using the necessary and sufficient conditions for fault detection. Using that methodology, along with a verification tool, and trial and error, we were able to build a new diagnostic test for all distinguishable faults named march DSS. March DSS is the first test that is capable of identifying all distinguishable memory static faults. Compared to the latest most comprehensive published diagnostic march test, march DSS provides significant improvement in terms of fault coverage, time complexity, and power consumption. By targeting the same faults, we were able to provide a new test equivalent to the latest published test with 46% improvement in time complexity.