A microcomputer-based automatic testing system for digital circuits using signature analysis

This paper proposes a microcomputer based automatic test equipment for digital circuits using signature analysis. The proposed system consists of a microcomputer equipped with a special interface card and controlled by a special software package. The system hardware is designed to transmit the test pattern generated by the microcomputer to the circuit under test (CUT), receive the response from the CUT, display the signatures and generate all necessary signals for the CUT. The software package is designed to control the system hardware. It provides the signatures of all modes simultaneously in one measurement and displays them on the screen of the microcomputer, compares them with those of the golden unit, and locates source faulty node(s). Examples for checking the capabilities of the proposed system to detect and locate faults in the CUT are illustrated.