Software-based delay fault testing of processor cores

This paper presents a software-based self-testing methodology for delay fault testing. Delay faults affect the circuit functionality only when it can be activated in functional mode. A systematic approach or the generation of test vectors, which are applicable in functional mode, is presented. A graph theoretic model (represented by IE-Graph) is developed in order to model the datapath. A finite state machine model is used for the controller. These models are used for constraint extraction so that the generated test can be applied in functional mode.